Here's to Us
by AnikaAnn
Summary: In which Matt finally meets the family, pets Brett, attends a wedding, reveals some of his less dark secrets and gives yet another reasons to be loved for. 'Damned' coda. Basically an excuse to write a shameless fluff.
1. 1 Are you coming?

Unlike the rest of the story, the first chapter is set relatively shortly after the events of the epilogue of Damned If I Don't.

I didn't want to rate the story, because it has like one short part that needed it – in chapter 10. Consider yourself warned. I'm sure you'll recognize when it's coming and you can skip it if you feel like it might offend your delicate senses…

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 **1\. Are you coming?**

Vera thought she was being subtle. Apparently, she wasn't. Because her Czech friends were able to tell Matt came back from the way she started joining conversations more often and with more enthusiasm.

 _ **M: Is he coming with you?**_ Marky asked in private conversation while all four of them chatted together. Vera felt her eyebrows deliberately shot up in silent question.

 _ **Me: What?**_

 _ **M: Matt. Obviously, he's back. Is he coming with you for the wedding? I just need to know. If he doesn't, I have to rearrange the seating plan.**_

Vera was astonished by the fact Marky somehow figured out he was back without Vera telling them. And then she frowned.

 _ **Me: Wait, what? You need to change it if he DOESN'T come?**_

 _ **M: Obviously. I was kinda counting on him to return early enough. And I knew if he was, you would totally be back together. If you were ever NOT together.**_

Count Vera impressed. With Terri knowing stuff, she forgot her friends in Czechia knew her pretty well too. But honestly… Matt attending a wedding with her? Somehow she couldn't make herself to imagine it. She could imagine introducing the amazing man she dated (it wasn't dating, it was… something, something she couldn't find a word for, because it was so much different from typical idea of dating) to her friends and family. But a wedding? She could imagine how uncomfortable that would probably make him. Not to mention _flying_. She wasn't a fan of flying herself. Her ears always hurt. How much Matt would hate that part alone? It would make him literally blind _and_ deaf. And the _money_.

 _ **Me: I'll ask.**_

 _ **M: Asap, please.**_

Her phone beeped with a text. Speak of the (Dare)devil. _**Fogwell's tonight?**_

 _ **Me: Will do.**_

Vera answered him _**yes**_ , of course. It was their first session after he returned. So far, they only… made up in the gym. In a very particular way. Jesus, he was so _tender_ that night despite the fact he had almost broken his knuckles with the force he had been beating the shit out of the punching bag just minutes ago and he had _broken someone's jaw_ earlier that night. He was like Jekyll and Hyde and it should be scary, but it wasn't. The touch, lighter than butterfly wings, burning hotter than fire, gentle lips, whispering sweet words, _everywhere, so_ _sinful_ …

Back on track.

Vera couldn't wait to continue their lessons. Not that they talked about it. He might as well assume that they were meeting for the part she was watching him making the bag swing. She had all necessary gear for that now – Terri bought her a bib for drooling. Vera would be looking forward either of the two possibilities. Now though? She was _terrified_.

She entered the gym with a lump in her throat, growing once she found him already waiting on the edge of the ring. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she approached him. They fell back into their relationship almost too easily; some moments though, it was like they were exploring the boundaries for the first time. This was definitely one of them.

Vera pecked him lightly on his lips in almost _friendly_ kiss. He seemed a little taken aback.

"Hi," she hummed, pretending she didn't notice, taking off her backpack, changing clothes. She could feel his sightless gaze burning through her.

"Is everything okay?" Matt asked hesitantly and she wondered what kind of signals she was sending – and how did he interpret them. Angry? Nervous? Afraid?

"How do you feel about attending a wedding?"

Vera froze the same moment the question left her mouth, her t-shirt only half on. Did she just ask him what she thought she asked him? Stunned silence was the answer and she pulled her t-shirt down, gulping. Judging by his expression and the tension in his shoulders, the question surprised him the same way it did her.

He frowned, clearing his throat. "Depends. Who's getting married?" he asked casually. It wasn't fair; he could always be casual and she never managed to sound even close to casual.

"Marky."

"Your friend from Czechia?" He seemed confused. Vera just nodded, unable to say another word. "You want me to come to Czechia with you? To attend a wedding?" he reassured himself, face unreadable.

She just gaped. She didn't know. Did she? "She asked me today. If you were coming. … Again."

He felt her uneasiness. So he bounced from the ring, making her way to her and shrugged. _Casually._ "Sure. If you want to."

That totally threw her off. "What?"

"If you want me to come, I will. I would love to meet you friends."

Alright. That was… new. She observed him, bewildered. "But you- you're never leaving Hell's Kitchen. You didn't until recently and you practically didn't have a choice back then."

"I think the city can handle few days without me. The criminals would sure understand," he joked and at that point, Vera was pretty much sure she was dreaming. _Since when the city could handle few days without him?_

"O-okay. The plane ticket-"

"-won't be a problem," sounded a voice from the back of the room and Vera jumped, hand shooting to her chest.

" _Jesus,"_ she gasped, incredulously watching a man walking towards them, obviously with no shame for his eavesdropping.

"Nah, just Danny," he offered with a grin, stopping few steps from them. What the hell was he doing here? Her gaze returned to her slightly embarrassed boyfriend.

"…Danny wanted to join us."

"You don't say," she noted sarcastically, "hey, Danny. Or maybe I should rather say _."_

Danny Rand was resurrected after almost twenty years of being proclaimed dead. The son of the CEO of the Rand Enterprise came back, ready to take over his father's company, at least partly. There was still a distance to go with that, lots of paperwork and fancy lawyer terms, but it was all over the news.

About two days after Matt Murdock officially returned to town – which was exactly five days after he revealed himself to Vera and four days after he broke Brett's jaw and was spotted in his Daredevil costume for the first time – he got to work, because Danny's plan to return to his father's company didn't go as well as he expected. The homeless look had probably something to do with that. And the fact he was declared dead several years ago and he kinda grew up since the time he had disappeared too. Matt spent hours and _hours_ with his nose (well, fingers) buried in papers, forgetting to eat and live in general. Since he didn't go to the office of Nelson and Murdock anymore, working from home, he practically wasn't leaving his apartment (with exceptions of daredeviling), trying to help Danny get his life back. On few memorable occasions, Vera had to let herself in (Claire's key from Terri, she should probably give it back, considering), because he simply _didn't hear her knock._

Vera snapped up from her thoughts as Danny gave her a brilliant smile. "Always 'Danny' for you. But hopefully with 's money soon, thanks to certain boyfriend of yours. Do you need the ticket too? Actually, I think I could borrow you a private jet," he hummed thoughtfully and Vera's head spun. Matt must have sense that, because he wrapped his arm around her waist, supporting her, tugging her to his hip, placing a kiss on her temple.

"We don't need to plan it all this very second," he offered gently, giving Danny a _pointed_ look Vera suspected. Danny's enthusiasm didn't fall in the slightest.

"Sure. Just let me know." Danny held his right fist against the palm of his other hand, bowing a little with his eyes closed before locking his gaze with hers. "Now, show me what you got, _Tiānshǐ."_


	2. 2 To lead and to be led

**2\. To lead and to be led**

He was like a cat; fluid movements, silent light steps, elegance and something dangerously hypnotizing. And yes, in that analogy, she was a mouse. And the cat just got bored with their little game, so he sent her to the ground – with yet another move he never bothered to share. How many of these existed? He always surprised her with something new.

Matt pinned her down to the mattress. Vera was too exhausted to fight her way out of it. And judging by the smug smile he wore, he was well aware.

"This is getting really old, you know?" she murmured, trying not to give in to the temptation to kiss his lips when they were so close. It didn't matter how annoyed she was. This worked on her. Every. Single. Time.

He shrugged. "Maybe I just like being on top of you."

Vera snorted and rolled her eyes. "As far as I know…"

Finding the rest of determination to do anything, she jerked and kicked out, rolling them over. She knew he let her. She wouldn't make him move if he didn't. Then again, she didn't try as hard as she could, because she didn't want to hurt him.

"…You like girl on top as well," she finished and his smile grew wider as she brought her lips to his, connecting them in not exactly innocent kiss.

"Truth." He rolled them back over the second their lips parted. "You're getting better."

"Are we talking about fighting or my witty answers?"

"I'm talking about fighting. But the other thing too," he confirmed with a laugh, his eyes twinkling. She loved that sight. Sure, there were many, many sides of him, but happy Matt? Carefree Matt, with special light in his eyes, wrinkles around them as he was smiling widely? Her heart would _melt_.

"I have a very good teacher for both." It was her turn to shrug and he licked his lips, something in his expression transforming. He hesitated.

"Would you… would _you_ teach _me?"_ he asked carefully, making her raise her eyebrow in surprise. Teach him?

"Teach you what? There is literally _nothing_ I could teach you, Matt. If you're talking about fit-boxing, then you should know you already got the moves." She closed her mouth shut when she realized how that sounded. Well, he did have various kinds of _moves_. He was pretty much master at all of them. _So good._

Matt either didn't catch the unintended joke or he decided to ignore it for whatever more pressing issue he had. _Pressing issue. Jeeeez, Veronika, way to go with those double entendre. One would think you're not getting enough._ She _was_ getting enough.

"I… I'm talking about… _dancing_ ," he whispered, tentative, as if it was the darkest secret. Her eyes went wide, mouth falling agape. _Come again?_ "At the benefit, we were… well, _swinging_ at best. But now when you allowed me to accompany you to a wedding-"

"I didn't allow you to go. I _asked you to come_ with me," she corrected him, trying to cover her awe and he pressed his lips together impatiently. It had to take a lot of his ego to ask her to be his mentor. Of anything. Matt was the prodigy around here, he was better at _everything._ "Sorry, go on."

"And if you would be willing, I would like to learn at least _one_ dance. One dance in which I would be able to keep up with you. At least a little. Please?"

Something resembling fear was in his eyes, fear of rejection as if he was asking her to let him thrust splints of wood under her fingernails. As if he wasn't making her dreams come true. At this point, she was pretty sure her heart _did_ melt.

Vera freed her hand, cupping his cheek. He leaned to her palm slightly, sensing she was on board with his plan. She kissed him again, playing with his lower lip, other hand interweaving in his hair, pulling him close. She felt like the luckiest woman on Earth.

"The answer is yes in case you didn't get that from-"

He captured her lips again, sucking thirstily and she got an idea which the way their training session was heading from there. His hand travelled down her side, sliding under her ass, freeing one of her legs just to wrap it around his bottom. Now, about the pressing issues…

"Okay. You got me ridiculously excited, just fair warning…" was the first thing she told him once he entered the gym the next evening. Her latin shoes were ready by the bench, begging to be put on. He grinned.

"Glad to hear that. Tell me what you want me to do, coach," he demanded dutifully, tossing his bag aside. He already changed into workout clothes. The idea of him dancing in the sweatpants was… weird. Actually, the whole idea of her teaching him dance was, but at the same time, it was appealing. The fact he was willing to learn for her. In the words of a modern teenage girl – she thought her ovaries might explode.

Vera quickly put her shoes on and cleared her throat. "So… I brought some songs, so you can get the basic idea of the styles- wait, do you know the dances? Do you have a particular dance you would like to learn?" She realized she had assumed he was tabula rasa when it came to dancing. Apart from slow dancing, obviously.

He smiled timidly. "No, not really… you have a favourite one?"

That was a shameless reminder of him learning for her. _Dammit, Matt._ "No, not really."

"You're a terrible liar."

"We'll see what you'll like, okay? I have songs and I thought I would show you bits and pieces and you'll decide. Basically, there are two main branches of ballroom dancing – Latin and Standard. Personally, I think we should go for Latin, 'cause Standard means more… moving around the room. You would have to let me lead a lot or at least _make it look like_ you're letting me, which… hey, whatever. Just watch. Or sense... do your thing."

Vera started with standard ones. Waltz. Foxtrot. Tango, obviously. Quickstep. It was harder to show him with a missing partner who would hold her. But hey, they did lots of exercises when she was in the group. It just took her a while to get back in the settle.

Matt was… attentive. He had this crinkle between his eyebrows, as he was trying to take it all in, head titled to side. The moment she stopped the fourth dance and told him she would switch to Latin, the crinkle disappeared. His lips, slightly pursed in concentration, formed a small smile and he walked to her, kissing her forehead.

"You're beautiful. I'm taking it back. I don't want you to teach me. I just want to watch," he announced lowly, placing a kiss to her hair too.

Vera felt her cheeks flush. "Sorry. I told you I got excited-"

"It's lovely. I mean it. I'm gonna envy everyone who can see you for real."

She shivered at the sweet words. And she hated his face fell a little.

"Well, if you learn too, you'll be the one-" She took his hand, placing it on her shoulder blade, the other raising rather high in standard hold. "-who's gonna have that girl you're gushing about in his arms, so…" she joked and corners of his mouth rose again.

"That's one hell of a motivation," he said, slightly pulling her closer. She took another small step, leaning backwards – and she could immediately feel his palm resisting, taking some of her weight dutifully –, turning her head left and up to make it perfect. Then she straightened, still standing body to body.

"Very well, . Then I guess it's time to show you what Latin has to offer."

He nodded with determination, stepping back. Vera put on another song. She started with jive, amused by his surprised expression. Yeah, Latin was a little different. She always liked it better. Jive was the one she liked the worst of them though. The best was yet to come.

She didn't make it half-way through variations of rumba, when hands on her hips stopped her. She jumped, snapping her eyes open; she didn't even realize she almost closed them, letting the soft tones consume her. This _was_ her favourite.

Matt stood right behind her, his body almost on hers, lips appearing on her ear.

"I don't think I want _anyone_ to see that," he hummed lowly, hot breath tickling her skin. She gulped, letting out a shaky exhale, fighting a shiver. How was he so suggestive all the time? Or was it just her being too easy?

"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied for the second time that evening, her hips continuing the motion he interrupted. His firm grip steadied her, not allowing her to move an inch. She didn't bother to hide the smug smile. For once, it was her who got him. It felt freaking amazing.

"You know I keep telling you to get a licence for your mouth?"

"Hm?" Vera turned around, his palms barely loosening the hold, tightening again once she faced him.

"You should get one for those hips too," he explained matter-of-factly and she chuckled, swallowing stupid note about hips that don't lie.

"Should I add it to the list of your motivations? Because once again, you would be the… proud owner or whatever," she offered, kissing the corner of his mouth. He looked a little dazed. She _loved_ that.

"Owner, huh?"

"I admit that I sense hints of domsub in that sentence…" she prodded and he closed his eyes, his fingers squeezing her side, making their hips bump.

"If you pull that during this kind of dance, I swear I'll bend you over in the middle of the dance floor," he hissed dangerously and Vera was shocked by the sudden wave of heat in her abdomen. She wasn't into public sex. Hell, she wasn't even into semi-public sex, but that was _hot_. She couldn't let out a word.

She had to clear her throat. "Uhm. There are… two more Latin basic dances, so…"

Matt released her very unwillingly and let her perform cha-cha and samba. He _did_ look a little like he was about to bend her over any second. She tried her best to ignore that glare, focusing on the right steps, almost relieved when she finished.

"So that's it. Does the jury need a minute to think about the verdict?" Vera asked cheerfully and saw his expression clearing once more.

"No. You were right, we should do Latin. Even though I can't promise I can do the same moves like you."

"We both know you _could_ handle that. But I don't want you to push it, we're not going to a competition. Plus, when guy overdoes it? So creepy. Then again if you want samba, you'll have to, it's important for doing it right," she warned him. "Which one?"

"Rumba," he answered simply and she froze, her breath hitching. She would _breathe_ for that dance. But it was also the one that made him stop her.

"You said you don't want anyone to see that," she reminded him, throat tight. She wanted to scream _yes_ and _thank you_ , but she tried to silence that very loud voice in her head by kicking it to the corner. Repeatedly. It didn't help.

Matt chuckled, taking few steps closer. "Well, apart from the fact that I _would_ be the proud owner and that's an offer that I cannot reject…. You loved it. I can tell that dancing makes you happy in general, but with this one? Vera, you were shining. The joy was literally _radiating in waves,"_ he explained softly, fingers finding her cheek, then running through her hair lightly.

She made a tiny sound of defeat and victory. "That dance is romantic trash for lovesickos."

"You're in love with it."

"Fell in years ago and never found a way out," she admitted, embarrassed. He kissed her forehead.

"Then there is no choice to make," he exclaimed with confidence and Vera was pretty sure her _heart_ just burst.

"Why? Why do you want to me to teach you in the first place? We could be just slow dancing if even, it would be enough. I…"

 _Why are you trying so hard?_ Ever since he came back, he was showing affection every possible minute they were together. Even when he was literally buried in work, the moment she came to him, it was like he forgot about it. Vera felt herself falling deeper and deeper in love with him. She wasn't kidding thinking her heart might burst, overfilled with emotions, making her breathing almost impossible, yet so easy. He would fly over ocean with her, leaving his city. _What changed?_ It had been ridiculously facile to fall for him, because of the way he had been. But he _was_ different lately.

 _Why?_ "I'm grateful, okay? I'm on cloud number nine. But _why_ are you trying so hard?"

He tensed at her words and she realized she must have just hit a sensitive spot. Her gaze wandered across his face, looking for any clue. There was a shadow of fear in his eyes, she noticed. There _was_ a particular reason for his doing then. Fear. Of what?

She bit her lip, placing her palm on his chest, right over his heart. "Matt?"

He opened his mouth and closed it again, no sound coming out. He was scared. He was ashamed. _Again_. What the hell? His Adam's apple jumped several times.

"I don't want you to regret it," Matt breathed weakly and Vera had to prick up her ears to hear it. Her mind raced.

"Regret what? Taking you with me? That's-" she started, but the realization struck her before she could finish. Oh. _Oh._ O _freaking_ H. She couldn't control her jaw as her mouth fell agape. And she knew the moment he realized she figured it out.

"Matt…"

"You're coming _home,_ Vera. All your friends, your _family_ , hell, people speaking your mother tongue. I bet there will be plenty of remembering the good old times, sparkling wine and _laugh_ …. What am I offering? Ever since you came here, you were attacked multiple times, you were shot, you were almost _killed,_ for god's sake, while I was just standing _right there_. All I have to offer is constant danger, looking over your shoulder, fear, blood and pain. How could you possibly choose _this_ over _that?"_ he fired out one sentence after another, voice urgent, eyes darting across the room, while he paced. Her chest ached at the sight, her ears bled with the words. Her palm felt suddenly cold without the feeling of his beating heart under it.

"There are two sides of each coin, Matt."

"What?" he blurted out, finally stopping in his tracks, turning to her out of habit.

"You're just focusing on one. The good old times, sure. Great friendships, but also with bunch of losers, bullied because of their weight, glasses or book-worming. Mother tongue? My mum was talking to me in English ever since I was _four_ , it's like a second nature to me. And you're forgetting I _ran away_ from there. A little harsh decision, but the reason stands-"

"Vera-" he wanted to interrupt her, but _no way, Murdock, I'm talking right now and you shut up and listen_.

"Of course I freaking miss them. Jesus, I can wait to hug the shit out of my brother and hide in his freaking bear arms and I'm possibly gonna cry to his shirt, so remind me to use water-resistant mascara. Also, my mum's gonna cry, be ready for that. I'm probably gonna cry at the wedding too. It will be like a freaky cry match," she joked and his face twisted in the strangest grimace. _Helplessness._ That was rather a new one.

"And really, Matt? Fear, blood and pain? _I love you._ Did that get lost in translation? _Te amo_. Do you think I love you for the stuff you mentioned? Surprisingly enough, despite what you apparently think of me – reckless and all that – _no_. Also, I keep repeating that, but you still don't seem to understand that, so I'm gonna say it again and I'll keep saying that whenever it's necessary; not every single bad thing that ever happened is your fault. And I totally enjoy the way you are since you came back. I think I'm high on happiness, actually. If you don't feel like someone's pulling your teeth out while you're acting like this, _please_. Don't stop. But I wanted to be with you _before_ that. Do you need me to name all the reasons? You can ask me to name _ten_ and I'll fail-"

And that was definitely pain on his face. Vera bit her tongue at her formulation. _That's what happens when you talk faster than think._ She followed his track, bordering his face with her hands.

"-because I won't be able to pick just ten of them, okay? I can think of hundred. And that's why I'm with you. And I'm more than willing to take the rest, because it's part of the package. It's part of Matt Murdock and I _love_ Matt Murdock. Do you understand?... _Entiendes_ _?"_ she demanded and his astonished and touched expression transformed into pure shock. His eyes were glassy with tears.

"You started learning Spanish?" he choked out hoarsely, throat apparently too tight to speak. She knew that feeling.

"I do that sometimes when I get bored. I always liked foreign languages. Plus Claire threw in some things during our sessions, I got curious. _Besame_ _."_

He chuckled, little sound between desperation and awe. "You have very interesting vocabulary."

"It's a work in progress," she hummed and he chuckled once again, drawing her close, hand on the back of her neck, doing as she asked, apparently with no need to be asked twice.

" _Perfecta,"_ he whispered to her lips, other hand resting on her waist.

"Took the word right from my mouth, quite literally. …Except I would say _perfecto_ , right?" He pecked her lips once in agreement. "So… shall we dance?"


	3. 3 The blind one and the deaf ones

So… the first appearance of Czech. Yes, there will be Czech in this fic, shocker. Vera understands both and this is her pov, so I'm just gonna underline Czech parts of conversations while keep writing in English.

…aka The Arrival of the Lovebirds

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 **3\. The blind one and the deaf ones**

September came faster than expected.

Things went back to normal long time ago; the only significant change was Vera's sessions with Matt sometimes transferring into dancing lessons and sometimes into group training with Danny.

Vera could tell Matt was growing more and more nervous about the upcoming event – Vera, on the other hand, was getting a little impatient if she was being honest. Sure, she loved it here in Hell's Kitchen, Matt, Terri and everything, but… home. The closer she was getting to the meeting with her family and friends from Czechia, the more she missed them, almost feeling anxious to finally reunite with them. And while she could handle living in New York, she missed her small town too (she never thought about Trutnov as a small town, but New York changed her perspective, with the population being almost like her homeland). She kinda missed silence and actual nature that wasn't Central Park.

And she was well-aware that as much as she was trying to keep those feeling to herself, Matt knew they were there. He was pretending he didn't notice and she didn't call him out on it. Just like she knew he was on the edge of scared and she was pretending she didn't notice either. It was a weird game they were playing.

They refused to take Danny's offer to lend them a private jet, because that felt just wrong. They did accept him calling the company Vera bought her ticket from though, because when Vera tried to get another ticket for Matt, they claimed it wasn't possible. One call from fixed that and Vera knew that even when Danny claimed he didn't offer them extra money, he probably did.

"Don't even think about it, Vera. I owe Matt, you know that and he's my friend. You're my friend. This is nothing. Don't say a word, Tiānshǐ," he warned her without a malicious note in his voice when she wanted to protest. She just sighed and let Matt to handle their friend in a way he would consider appropriate. Her brain got occupied with solving the mystery nickname of hers anyway.

It was 14th September and they found themselves on board, their seats right next to each other – Vera was sure it was a pure coincidence that the seat next to her conveniently vacated after Danny's call –, both resting their heads to the cushioned pillows, sighing.

Vera chuckled when she registered Matt doing exactly the same.

"Are you nervous, ?" she teased him, vainly trying to cover the tremble in her voice. His hand lightly squeezed hers, but he didn't move otherwise.

"Planes aren't my favourite means of transport."

Vera grimaced, imagining all of possible reasons why. Was it going to be hell for him? What exactly was she asking him to undergo when coming with her?

"You could have said no," she offered gently. Vera knew he was not about to back out now. He was probably not about to cause a scene now, just to leave the plane. Vera was pretty confident he wouldn't start yelling about a missing left phalange or something.

His eyes snapped open and he frowned at her. "I wanted to go with you."

A warm feeling spread in her chest. There was something sincere in his eyes, covering the whole anxiety he had about the journey and meetings. She returned the squeeze on her hand.

"I love you, Matt. I really appreciate this, you coming with me. I don't like flying either… how much does it affect your hearing? And senses in general?" she asked quietly and he made a face that spoke thousand words.

"Well, depends on how skilful the pilot is… it's… well, uncomfortable."

"You're basically deaf after that and you aren't able to walk a straight line, are you?" she suspected with horror. He bit his lip and Vera knew she was right. "Oh god, Matt, why would you-"

"No, no, it's not that bad. I told you, I want to go with you. I want to… meet you family and friends. Know you a little bit more."

Vera felt a sting of guilt. Dammit, she didn't deserve this. Dammit, dammit, dammit, why was he being like this?

'I don't want you to regret it.' His words echoed in her head. He was afraid she would leave and never come back. He was scared she would change her mind about staying in New York. He was afraid of losing her. And he was willing to suffer if it meant she would stay.

She whined, hiding her face in her palms. "I'm a terrible human being. I'm stealing blind's man hearing. There must be a special place for me in hell…"

"… I'm sure it is. It's called Kitchen," Matt hummed, taking one of her hands, kissing its back. It made her feel even worse. He was joking. He was comforting her. She examined his sincere expression and sighed.

"Okay. What do I do? How do I help?"

The third person in their half-row joined them, occupying the seat closest to the aisle. Matt wanted to be in the middle – he minded the cold from the window too much, more than he minded closeness of another person, a stranger. Vera fought the urge to whine again – instead, she smiled politely at the elder man, nodding.

Matt tilted his head before leaning to her ear. "You talk. The engines are rather loud, so that would help. Give me something to focus on, because all the noises are… they will be too loud for me, I won't- I won't be able to hear your heartbeat, so I can't to focus on that and I really don't like not being able to hear your heart."

Her lips parted. Jesus. That was even worse than she thought. And they were about to be trapped in this nightmare for so. Many. Hours.

"I really, really owe you for this," she muttered and Matt kissed her cheek and her temple.

"Come back with me and you won't."

They actually managed to sleep from time to time. They slept, they dozed, they talked. Matt was curious about her friends and family. Vera could tell he liked Jíťa the best from her narrating and while he was obviously afraid of meeting Vera's mum, he gave Vera a soft, sympathetic smile when Vera talked about her, forcing her tears to stay in. Goddammit she missed her family.

"She's going to ambush you, okay. Just a fair warning. She's very excited about meeting you."

"But not your father."

Vera grimaced. "Well, he's not excited about any new people, more like the opposite, so… don't take it personally. And he can't speak English to save his life, so-"

"Isn't your mum an English teacher?" he asked bewildered, obviously confused and horrified he was mixing facts. Vera bit her cheek.

"Yeah. I know. Just- he knows a little Russian, really just a little what he remembers from elementary school, but otherwise… yeah, languages aren't his thing. He doesn't speak that much in general, so- Matt, you don't have to be scared of him."

"I'm not," he protested too quickly.

Vera smiled at him, checking on the man on the last seat – he was out cold. She quickly invaded Matt's intimate personal space, pecking his lips. And again. The man was still oblivious. So she lingered, long enough for Matt to start responding, returning her affection softly, following her lips when she wanted to retreat. So she didn't. Instead, she brought her hand to the crook of his neck, sinking into his lips deeper, while his hand travelled up her thigh smoothly, finding her hip.

She registered from the corner of her eye someone over the aisle was watching them with wide eyes, so she broke the kiss, resting her forehead against his, letting her eyelids drop again.

"Good distraction technique. Very advanced," he breathed to her mouth and the corners of her mouth rose involuntarily.

"Good to know."

Of course, she couldn't be kissing him during whole flight or the landing. Her ears cried too, hurting and popping as if she kept bursting bubbles inside them, but she tried her best to talk lowly anyway, for Matt's sake. He looked like he was in agony – in agony he was trying to cover and deny. No, chewing bonbons didn't help much. But Matt took few without protesting, which meant something.

Vera found out how much the flight and the landing messed up Matt's senses the moment he stood up and almost fell back to the seat if she hadn't caught him and if he hadn't supported himself onto the front seats. She was startled by it, no matter how much she had been preparing herself. She led him from the plane to the hall, waiting for their cases, her own ears feeling like underwater, half-deaf. God, how bad it had to be for Matt?

"Tell me what to do and I'll do it," she promised, leaning to his ear, his grip painfully tight on her arm for reassurance – he looked like he was about to walk into something or worse, someone. "Anything."

Matt let out weird sound somewhere between a whine and a chuckle.

"Don't offer that or I'll actually ask."

Her eyebrows shot up, but she didn't get a chance to ask further, responding to the appeal for picking up their luggage. She asked once they were standing by the luggage belts. He just shook his head and smiled inconspicuously, leaving her hanging. She didn't really wonder, checking her phone instead, finding a text from her brother claiming they were waiting outside of the terminal one.

Vera could tell Matt's vertigo and disorientation were getting better each minute, because when they walked the halls, the sunrays coming through the ceiling warm on their heads, he was slowly loosening his hold.

Vera knew her heart jumped when she glimpsed the familiar too long brown hair hovering above the others. She didn't need to see the face to recognize her brother. How many men with slightly over 6'6 feet could be out there? And Jesus, had he actually gotten taller? He was 27 years old, he was not allowed to keep getting taller! She smiled widely, quickening her pace.

Her eyes weren't stinging, shut up, she was not crying already, she wasn't.

The moment they walked out the hall, her brother noticed them and reciprocated her smile, taking a step from his girlfriend, knowing that Vera was going to jump him in three, two, one-

She let go both, Matt and her suitcase, throwing her arms around the freaking yeti and yes, she was crying like a five year old, so what. Her brother was hugging her back gently, resting his chin on the top of her head, cradling just slightly, screw everything, she was totally entitled to cry, she hadn't seen him for a year.

"Hey there, Mechy-girl," he hummed over her head and she chuckled, tightening her grip, breathing in. She was so used to Matt's scent it almost startled her, the change – but it was still so painfully familiar that it only made her tear harder.

"Hey, Mechy."

If they were hugging for too long, neither Matt or Lenka dared to say a word about it. Vera took several deep breaths and let go after a minute, or maybe two, maybe five. Vera smiled unsurely at Lenka, giving her quick hug too. "Hi."

"Hey, Verčo. Welcome home." Vera's smile faltered slightly and she was glad Matt didn't understand. She wasn't sure how he would feel about the greeting. Czechia was home. Was and always would be. 'Home is where your heart is.' She could have had more than one home, right? Because when she was thinking about it… Hell's Kitchen became sort of a home too. She blinked away more tears at that.

"Thank you. Petře, Lenko, this is my boyfriend, Matt. Matt, there's a huge human being to your right at about one o'clock, who is my brother and his girlfriend Lenka at your eleven," Vera introduced them, hoping she didn't mess anything up. It was a long time since she had to describe things and she never really had to. It was almost a year since she thought Matt needed it and their interactions were usually short at the time.

Matt gave the pair his best smile despite Vera being sure he was still very uncomfortable and totally confused with his senses all over the place. He extended his hand in Petr's general direction, shaking it, Lenka's following.

"Nice to meet you, Matt," Lenka offered with a nervous smile, not sure how to treat him and Matt tilted his head as he was focusing on her rather quiet voice.

"Nice to meet you," he said back, probably figuring it out.

"We're a little…" Vera made a vague gesture around her ears. "…from the landing. Be loud with us, please."

"Oh. Sorry. I didn't realize. I'm usually half-deaf because of it too- doprčič! Is that offensive? Considering-"

"Oh, not at all," Matt reassured her with a content grin, happy she was talking loud enough and wasn't watching what she was saying too carefully. "It's cool. So now I'm blind and deaf. Make fun all you want."

Lenka shot Vera a startled look, wordlessly asking if he was kidding her, using some kind of a sarcastic ironic humour.

Vera grinned too. "Oh, he's serious. And yeah, I'm basically deaf too. We are quite a pair, Mr. Murdock."

Matt pecked her temple – or rather the space between her temple and forehead, bad aim, blind and deaf. "We sure are."

Getting to the centre of the town was quite annoying. It was too complicated. But at least the conversation flew rather easily to Vera's relief, Petr talking shortly about a messy conference in the firm he was working at, Lenka rolling her eyes as if she heard the story at least fifteen times.

Vera was cautious about letting Petr know how she was, focusing on the period after Matt's return, carefully picking out details from earlier. Matt seconded her, talked about the legal resurrection of Danny Rand when being asked about his practice. Vera didn't realize her mum shared that much info with Petr and that Petr apparently followed the news in New York – Vera was pretty sure she hadn't talk about Danny in front of mum, only about Matt's friend entering their lives. It startled her for a moment, but it quickly went away when Lenka admitted she didn't understand what Matt was talking about when speaking too lawyery and the topic changed.

They had a late lunch before heading to the apartment, introducing Matt to really the most typical of typical Czech cuisine, Petr teasing Vera about not educating her boyfriend and not cooking for him enough. Lenka shot him a murderous look, offering him cold dinners for several days if he kept having digs at women's traditional role in a relationship. Things were… nice.

Matt leaned to Vera when they went to take a tram to Petr's and Lenka's apartment, whispering to her ear.

"I think I'm gonna like it here."

Vera turned to him, kissing his cheek, smiling brightly. "That's all I can wish for."


	4. 4 The Sun, the Moon the truth

**4\. The Sun, the Moon, the truth**

"So… how've you been?"

Vera blinked, surprised at Petr's question. They did a little catching up on their way. And they talked about anything and everything over the lunch and then over a cup of tea, until Lenka picked up her stuff, heading to her parent's house for a long weekend. Petr stayed, planning on joining her tomorrow, after Vera and Matt would bail on him. So now Matt was in the shower, while Vera sat crouched on the couch, the tiredness from the flight, jet lag, and everything catching up with her. If Matt wasn't about to come out in few minutes, she would doze off.

But her brother's question woke her up quite effectively. She had already told him, why was he asking again? "Good. Really good, actually-"

He gave her a pointed look that made her shut up. "Verčo. He can't hear you right now." _You wish._ "And mum and dad can't hear you _yet_. So you wanna tell me the truth?"

There was something in his eyes, something she didn't like. Something _knowing_. Or maybe she was just really exhausted and was seeing things. And hearing things. Why would her brother think there was something she didn't want to talk about in front of Matt? Or in general? Did he think she was lying? About what?

"Peti, I don't-" Vera started, only to get interrupted again.

"For example about your… ' _car accident'_ ," he said, the words 'car accident' somewhat wry. Vera froze, feeling herself panicking. "Like not even a month after you came to New York?"

 _Don't freak out. Don't freak out. There is no way he knows you weren't in a car accident, but in fact got kidnapped. No way._

"Yeah, okay, that was shitty-" she admitted.

"Or about the ' _trial'_ you had to come to testify against ' _the driver'_?" he added, voice getting impatient, her heart gradually picking up speed with each word. Shit. Oh shit. Oh no. _How did he know?!_

"I-I- that's-" Vera stuttered, horrified. She wasn't sure when she sat up straighter or when he got closer, his eyes piercing and giving her a glare of a disappointed parent, but it happened.

"I work IT, Veru. Lenka is _a journalist_. Do you really think I haven't been keeping tabs on my little sis?"

"I-I don't know what to tell you." Vera honestly didn't know what to tell him. He somehow _knew_. When she thought about it, it probably wasn't that hard to find info on the internet. If you had at least a general idea of _how_ and _what_. Everything in her gut was screaming _wrong_ at her. And yes, she was freaking out. "Yeah, I wasn't in a car accident. Satisfied?"

Petr just gaped, inclining further into her space. "Satisfied?! Ježišmarja, Verčo. Of course I'm not! You were _kidnapped_ and _tortured!_ There's no universe in which I would be _satisfied!"_ he blurted out, making her retreat from the sudden burst of emotion. Anger. Disappointment? Fear?

"It wasn't-"

"If you say it wasn't _that bad_ , I swear-" he threatened and it was her turn to burst out.

"I'm okay! Alright? Just- I'm okay, now. Can we- can we not to?" she pleaded, desperately wishing him to say yes. She was so happy to see him again. Her amazing yeti brother with friendly smile and bear hugs. Not-

"No," Petr crushed her hope, his expression telling her he in fact rather wouldn't either. So why did he want to? "We have to. Bože. I read about it. Some website published the whole court- I read what they did to you, how you actually talked about it there." He gulped, his eyes getting a haunted vibe. He was worried about her. Of course he was. Vera honestly just wanted to hug him until he would shut up.

"I read what you said. You- I can believe I'm saying this. No doprdele. You- you're involved with a vigilante! Are you crazy?! I got that he saved you, but the way-" Vera opened her mouth in rush, because _holy shit_ stop that train of thoughts _right now_ , they were not about to talk about _that_ , but he raised his voice to shut her up if needed. "-no, let me finish – the way you talked about him, _I_ _know_ _you_. You knowwho he is, worse, you _care_ about him! Ježišimarja, Veroniko!"

Vera watched her brother in horror. His face was flushed, his words were heated, his fists clenched in his lap and the voice he was speaking in…. How did they even get here? How did he put- yeah, he knew her, sure, but was it really that evident? Could he simply know her so well he was able to tell she _cared_ about the man who saved her only from her _words_ , no emotions seen or heard, no context? Vera liked to think her relationship with her brother was rather good – once she had transformed from the awkward little sister and overcame the period of annoying teenage girl in puberty (and she wasn't that bad, okay), they were… _good_. They had some kind of weird understanding. But what the hell?

Petr was watching her expectantly, pointed look piercing her eyes. She couldn't fool him, could she?

"You're right," Vera exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air just slightly, more in a helpless gesture than an exasperated one. What else could she do? "You're absolutely right. Is that what you want to hear? Yes. I care about him."

"Big time," he added angrily and Vera huffed, looking out of the window to the dark.

"Yes, big time."

She could feel his gaze on her, seeing him frown from a corner of her eye. He was thinking. Her brother was smart, she knew that. Their parents were proud of him, just like they were of her when she got accepted and actually managed not to get kicked out of med school. They joked about it quite often, that they sometimes doubted Vera and Petr were even their kids. Well, Vera sure proved she was, when she dropped out. Anyway, the thing was that Petr was _smart_. He was very good at noticing small details, but he was able to take a step back and look at the big picture as well. Now, it was an ability Vera did not appreciate at all.

"Was he the reason you got hurt earlier this year too?" he asked after a while. Vera felt the air being knocked out of her chest, blood drained from her face. No doprdele. This wasn't happening. He didn't- what did he mean _'too'_?

"It wasn't his fault I got kidnapped!" she burst out in reflex. It wasn't Matt's fault. Why did everyone assume it was?!

"What?!" he shot back.

"The-the cop who was involved in the kidnapping, the one against whom the trial was. It wasn't M-" She licked her lips, because _shit_. _Sure, Macháčková. Tell him Matt's name. Just let the last puzzle pieces fall into place, solve it for him, spare him the work!_ "It wasn't Mike's fault."

"Šmarja, Verčo. _Mike_. I'm not even- you dodged the question. Was he the reason why you got hurt earlier this year?"

"No," Vera answered simply, aiming for firm voice. The word was so short and easy she might have even succeed. Petr ran his hand down his face, observing her with wide eyes.

" _Pane bože-_ You're such a terrible liar! And now you're gonna tell me that the articles about him just stopped conveniently after that, right? Such a coincidence!"

"It wasn't his fault!" Vera exploded, jerking to her feet. Petr looked up at her, startled by her outburst. Dammit! Too emotional. "Not- not really, he- he tried to save me, okay? He tried, Jesus, he tried so hard. He wouldn't even sleep, he just kept watching me- and then he left, he _left_ to keep me save from- from the people who did it to me-" she babbled, carefully eyeing Petr.

The glare he gave her made her shut her mouth. His eyes were wide, wider than she could ever imagine they could go. His lips were parted, face white. He looked like he wasn't even breathing.

"No doprdele. Ty vole, dopr- you- you- no to si ze mě děláš prdel _._ "

Vera observed him silently as he stood up too, running his hand through his hair, pacing, eyes on the bathroom door. Vera would give anything to know what was in his mind. And she kinda didn't want to know at all at the same time.

"Pet-"

The second the bathroom door opened and Matt stepped out, Petr was a right in front of him, looking down, Jesus, he was _looking down at Matt_ , how crazy was that, staring to his face. Vera could see Matt blink few times, baffled expression, wet hair in all direction. In any other situation, she would probably feast her eyes on the cute image, but… well. Petr was somewhat hovering above him, intimidating. Not that Matt could see that, but he could tell. Not that Petr knew _that_.

"Are you even really blind?"

Vera felt her heart stop, her mouth falling agape in shock. _WHAT did he just ask him?!_ Vera wasn't just freaking out now. She was beyond that. She was _paralyzed._ Petr shouldn't ask that question, because the only reason she could think of was that he suspected Matt being _the vigilante she cared about big time._ And that was one big _NO_.

Matt, bless him, had more reason than her and cleared his throat, his head rising to the sound of Petr's voice, eyes as unfocused as ever. "Yes? I can't see a thing."

"How is he doing it then?" her brother demanded, turning his face to Vera, who was still unable to talk, zero control over her expression and whole body, actually.

"W-what?"

"How does he fight if he doesn't see shit?" he specified and Vera was just _done_.

"You think-" she laughed, the sound fake and desperate, because _Jesus Christ_ how did everyone in her life figure out Matt was _Mike?_ "Proboha, this isn't happening." She ran her hand down her face, staring at the two men she loved with her fist curled against her mouth.

She had no idea what to do. She didn't want to lie to her brother. She didn't want to give up Matt's secret. Her brother probably already _knew_ , because he seemed quite confident. She could try to prove him wrong of course, but…

"Peti, Matt's blind. It sucks, but I don't mi-"

She shrieked when Petr's fist shot up, the punch aimed right at Matt's face – only for the blow to be blocked. His fist stopped in Matt's hand an inch from his face. Vera covered her mouth with her palm, looking at both of them in horror.

What the FUCK?!

Petr gasped. "Now that's a nice trick. How does that work?"

"What. The. Actual. Hell?!" Vera made her way to them, yanking her brother's arm from Matt's hold – Matt obediently let go. Vera wasn't quite sure who she was addressing. Petr, for punching Matt, or Matt for- well, for protecting his face, while giving up his- ability? She decided Petr should be handled first. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Can we please speak English? I feel like I should be part of this conversation…"

Vera shot Matt incredulous look. "Honestly I- seriously, Matt?"

 _Did you just give up your secret to my brother?!_

Matt shrugged as if he just hadn't revealed his secret identity, which he _used to_ be keeping from everyone, the most classified secret of all secrets. "I'm meeting your parents tomorrow. I have a wedding to attend. What would people think if I showed up with my nose cracked?"

"Broken," Petr hummed, apparently offended.

"No, you didn't use that much force and the angle was wrong, my nose definitely wouldn't break-"

"I'll break both of your noses!" Vera cried out, her gaze flickering between them in shock, while Petr obviously considered what Matt said, trying to figure out if he was right.

"No, you really won't, Mechy-girl," her brother gave her tiny patronizing smile and Vera would swear later that she had no idea how that happened. But _somehow_ , her brother had his arm twisted behind his back and Vera was the one who was holding it. Matt tried to bit back proud smirk, failing epically.

"No, I won't, but I _could_ ," she hissed, letting him go and he immediately turned to her, shock all over his face.

"Who the hell are you and what have you done to my sweet little sister?"

"That's life. But the thing I did right right here - that was thanks to Matthew Michael Murdock," Vera announced dryly, unable to look at the said person.

"Michael. _Mike_. I see what you did there."

"I don't," Matt hummed and Petr snickered.

Vera was really confused at that point. Because her brother just… snickered. And he extended his hand in Matt's direction as if he wanted to shake hands. Again. The atmosphere in the room changed within seconds from _drama_ to _let's drink and shake hands_.

To Vera's utter shock, Matt cracked a small smile, accepting. They exchanged a firm handshake.

The day she would _understand men_ , the true miracle would happen.

"I'm Petr Macháček. I work IT and I have a sister I love very much, so if you ever get her hurt again, I _will_ break your nose and I won't stop there."

Vera rolled her eyes at her brother, still not quite following. But she knew she didn't like that kind of shovel talk. Not mentioning Petr could _dream_ of doing that, but that was all; Matt would wipe floor with him, no matter the obvious weight and height advantage on Petr's side.

"For god's sake-"

"Matt Murdock. Lawyer and occasional vigilante. I love your sister very much, I'll do everything to protect her and if I fail, I'll fly back here only to let you break anything you want to," Matt introduced himself with a brief smile.

"Good answer. So you've been teaching her, huh?" Petr asked casually and Vera just stared.

What just happened? _What is still happening?!_

"Yeah, well, I'm trying since she asked me. She's a natural, I blame dancing, fit-box and the temper. I'm surprised she hadn't taken any self-defence classes before, considering how often she gets into trouble."

"She didn't use to. Is there more I don't know?" Petr's frown was audible more than visible as he slowly walked to the couch, Matt following him together with Vera's incredulous glare.

"I'm not sure you _want to_ know…. Vera, love, _breathe._ We're okay."

Vera couldn't recall Matt addressing her ' _love'_ before and she was pretty sure she would remember. It wasn't helping the bizarreness of the situation.

"You think we'reokay?" Petr asked him with raised eyebrow, tone fake threat.

"Your heartbeat is much calmer," Matt explained as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Vera threw her hand in the air, shooting him a look he couldn't see, wordlessly questioning his sanity.

"You can hear my heartbeat?!"

"Yes. Helps with recognizing emotions, finding out about lying, but more importantly it helps to predict behaviour-"

"That's how you knew I was gonna hit you," Petr stated, amazed.

"Among other things, yes. Vera? Come here?"

Vera turned her palms to him in a rejecting gesture and his arm, opening for her to slide into his embrace, fell. "I think I'm going for a walk."

 _To clear my head. Then I might understand what the fuck just happened_.

Petr frowned. "Now? It's late."

Vera huffed. Right. "Fine. I'm gonna-" _drown in the bathtub_ "-take a shower. Just- don't try and kill each other in the meantime."

"Wouldn't dream of it," her brother ensured her with a grin and Vera sighed, watching them with uncertainty.

"He's not lying."

"Okay, that's kinda cool."

" _Oh my god…"_

When Vera returned from the shower, hair still dripping water, both men were sitting on the couch where she left them, facing each other, talking quietly. Petr's eyes were clouded with concern, shooting her a look as she approached them. Matt automatically reached out his hand to cover hers just a fraction of second before she actually put it on his shoulder. She could see surprise shadowing over Petr's face, before he returned to worrying.

"Sounds like you've been busy," he hummed, rewarded with Vera's sigh. Matt's hand squeezed hers tighter.

"What did you tell him?"

"Everything," Matt admitted and Vera froze, her mind racing. What exactly meant _everything?!_ Vera gulped as her brother's eyes measured her from head to toe as if he was seeing her for the first time.

"Can I see the scar? From… from the sword?" Petr asked carefully, unable to look up at her face again.

Vera's heart jumped at the question. In the back of her mind, she appreciated how _absurd_ the sentence was. She never expected her brother asking her whether he could see her sword scar. If someone told her he would be asking her this like a year ago, she would send them to psych eval. Yet, here they were.

"You sure?" she asked, voice barely a whisper. He didn't even whisper. He just nodded. With a lump in her throat, she turned her back to him, slowly rolling up her tee for sleeping – secretly, she was hoping that if she did it slowly enough, he would change his mind. He didn't.

Vera could hear the leather of the couch protesting as he rose to touch the scar. His touch was surprisingly gentle as if he was worried it might hurt her. It was one of the things he had in common with Matt; it never seemed to stop amazing her, how careful their touches could be. In Matt's case, it was because she knew how hard he could punch, ruining people with those hands; in her brother's, it was simply because he was all long arms and legs, giving an impression of someone who could never control his movements no matter how hard he tried.

What surprised her even more were his fingers lightly running over the skin on her other side too – where her pentagram scar used to be. The laser treatment at hospital sponsored by Rand Enterprise wasn't perfect. There was still a trace of _something_ , different pigmentation, but at least it didn't necessarily resemble the five-pointed star that would mark her as a Satanist.

"That's… where the other scar used to be?" he asked hesitantly, retreating his hand and Vera gladly let her tee fall back to its place, working against the lump in her throat again. She didn't want to turn around, face him, afraid of his judgement. She was honestly shocked Matt told him about that – then again, she was taken aback by the fact he revealed himself in the first place.

"Yeah."

Heavy silence fell. He had nothing more to say. She had no idea what to say. Matt for once stayed quiet too, probably not wanting to interject in the surreal sibling moment. Her pulse was loud in her ears, painful knot in her stomach in anticipation of her brother's reaction.

 _You're crazy._

 _What happened to you?_

 _You became a freak._

"You grew up," he said instead, voice altered with emotion she couldn't identify. Didn't want to, perhaps.

Her eyes darted to Matt at Petr's words, desperately looking for help with decoding the meaning, despite the fact he couldn't possibly have an idea of what Petr just told her. These weren't the words she was afraid of, not exactly. But having no idea what they meant was scaring her even more. And Matt… was smiling softly, his fingers stroking the side of her thigh in a comforting touch as she stood next to him.

Vera took a deep breath and turned to her brother. He glanced up to her face, eyes older than she saw just minutes ago, yet not hateful. She relaxed a little.

"It's… I am very much not happy about you getting hurt, about the danger, but… you _grew up._ David was manipulating you, you were a terrible push-over, especially when it came to him, but not now. You know what you want and you go for it. What would do if I told you to stay here and never return to US? Or if I told you to stop seeing- dating him?" He beckoned in Matt's direction.

Matt was frowning now; he caught the gesture, he heard her ex's name, but otherwise he was clueless. Vera wasn't angry at Petr's words; they were true. She understood, the tension and fear dissolving.

"I would tell you I'm glad you care for me and that you worry, but you can go screw yourself, because you won't dictate to me what I can and cannot do. Even though you're my beloved big brother," Vera answered easily and Petr's lips spread in wide smile.

"Right answer. I'm calling dibs on the shower now. Bed's all yours, I'm taking the couch." With those words, he rose to his feet, making his way to the shower.

He seemed to change his mind while he was passing her – he took her hand and pulled her into a bear hug. Vera let him, enjoying the feeling, smiling. She really missed this. She missed him. She almost forgot how… tolerant he could be when it came to her; he tolerated David too, even though he hated him and he occasionally slipped in some not exactly polite comments about him. But he dealt with it. He let her live her life, because it was _her_ life, leaving the moralizing bullshit out. Gosh, Vera loved her brother.

"Are you happy?" he hummed to her hair and she couldn't help smiling wider.

"Yeah."

"Is _he_ making you happy?"

Vera chuckled. "Yeah. More than you can imagine."

Petr's grip grew stronger, hand stroking her shoulders. "Okay then. I'm proud of you, Mechy-girl."

Shut up, she wasn't crying, he was crying. _Dammit, Veronika._

"Thank you," she mumbled to his chest – more like upper abdomen, _Jesus_ , he was tall – squeezing one more time before they let go. "You know you're the coolest big brother ever, right?"

He snorted. "Yeah, yeah sure. Just… please, don't- get too… _loving_ in my bed, okay? I'm not _that_ cool."

Her cheeks flushed immediately, but she laughed. "Oh my god, _shut up."_

"Love you too," he hummed, patting her head patronizingly. The bathroom door closed behind him with significant click.

Well. That went _well._ Vera sighed, wiping away the tears she _did not_ shred, because she wasn't crying, spinning on her heels. Matt was still on the couch, arms folded on the armrest, chin on them, as if he had been watching them. His eyes were only half open, as if he had been barely keeping himself from falling asleep. He looked peaceful.

Vera decided questioning his actions – no matter how well they turned out, at least for now – could wait. She crossed the distance, the corners of his lips raising as she brought her hand to his forehead, brushing the disobedient damp hair away.

"Bed?" she offered quietly and his soft smile grew a little wider.

"Now that sounds like an offer I cannot reject," he hummed. Vera chuckled, rolling her eyes.

"You know, the sheets aren't silk," she teased when he followed her, leading him by his hand, their fingers barely touching.

"There are more important things I require from a bed, you know." He climbed under the covers wearily, burrowing in them as if he really didn't give a shit they were cotton. She hid in his arms, pecking his throat before laying her head down and closing her eyes.

"And what would those be, counsellor?"

Vera opened her eyes when he didn't answer. He had his eyelids closed, inconspicuous secretive smile on his lips. Even in her sleepy state, she added that expression to her favourite things. His fingers caressed her lower back just lightly, a motion he might not have even intended, his smile widening a little. She didn't get her answer for another minute, so she sighed and gave in to the dreams that were knocking on the door of her consciousness.


	5. 5 Is that an eye-seeing dog?

**5\. …is that an eye-seeing dog?**

Vera woke up in an empty bed. She panicked – firstly, she thought Matt had fled, which was something she wouldn't blame him for, secondly, she was afraid he _hadn't_ and possibly was talking to her brother, which was a thought that scared her no less. It turned out the men were actually having breakfast, cups of coffee in front of them and while Matt looked a little bewildered, he gave her a beautiful smile, surreal jin-jang kiss when tilting his head back and he didn't seem terrified, so Vera assumed everything was alright.

The goodbyes were quick – Vera wanted to meet with Petr one more time at the end of her stay in Czechia, so she didn't have to cry her eyes out now. She found herself with Matt on a bus to her hometown in no time. Matt obviously wasn't a fan of buses either, but they distracted themselves by Matt whispering awkward details about their fellow-passengers, so in the end, the almost three hours' journey didn't feel so long. And it was only fair to spy on them, because everyone seemed to be staring at the blind guy. Obviously.

The hike to her house felt even shorter. Tears had stung her eyes when she had started recognizing the area, but by the time she saw the house, she was a wreck. Jesus, how was she supposed to face her mum if she was tearing only from seeing a building?

Matt gave her elbow a reassuring squeeze. "Do you want to go alone first?"

"Nope!" Vera blurted out immediately, horrified. Maybe, if she had Matt by her side when facing her mum, she would be able to control herself better. _Maybe_. Probably not. "Come with me, please."

"As you wish," he hummed and Vera chuckle-sobbed, melting into his touch as his lips found her temple. He was smiling, she could tell even without looking at him.

"Aren't you at least a little nervous?" she asked, offended and embarrassed at the same time. Parent-meeting was generally a big step in a relationship and it often didn't go well, so how the hell was Matt so calm and- comforting? He wanted to be calm and comforting _. Goddammit, Matt._

He shrugged.

"Fine. Let's go, Westley."

The small stones of the driveway were crunching under the wheels of her suitcase, the sound filling the silence. Oh god, Vera was nervous and excited as fuck.

Vera didn't bother with keys – she rang the doorbell, taking a deep breath. She could hear a shout from inside and some noises she couldn't quite identify.

Before she could, the door flew open, revealing her mum with expectant expression.

Vera gulped, tears already on her cheeks. _Jesus shit, Macháčková, you really can't keep it together, can you?_

"Hi, mum-" she squeaked, not needing to think about any other words, because her mum yanked her from Matt's gentle grip on her elbow, squeezing her in her arms. Vera laughed, tears running down her cheeks in streams now.

"Oh, honey," her mum muttered to her hair, cradling slightly and Vera breathed in her perfume and _cookies_ , because of course her mum baked for them. Vera leaned into her touch further, squeezing tighter. "I missed you. How are you feeling?"

Vera huffed another laugh, mumbling an approximation of ' _great'_ and slowly let go, her face totally red and damp from crying. Thank _God_ Matt couldn't see her. Matt. She cleared her throat.

"Mum, this is my boyfriend, Matt Murdock. Matt, this is my mum," she introduced the two amazing people and Matt smiled honestly, just like Vera knew he would, the charming bastard he was, extending his hand in her mum's general direction.

Her mum smiled too, finally looking at him properly, accepting his hand, wiping away her own tears with the back of her other hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Machackova," Matt exclaimed smoothly in his lawyery _you-can-trust-me_ voice,because he was a _charming bastard_ , and Vera's mum's smile grew wider.

"Pleasure's all mine. Mind if I call you Matt?"

"Not at all," he admitted, the corners of his lips rising higher in pleasant surprise.

Vera's eyebrow shot up. The comeback would come in three, two, one-

"Great. It's Hana, Matt, if that's okay with you too." Vera grinned. Her mum was smitten. Which meant that now- "Do you have anything against hugs?"

Vera watched Matt's carefully controlled expression falter for a second, his eyebrow twitching as he wanted to let it rise. "No, I don't… _Hana."_

"Good. Because I'm going to hug you now."

The moment Vera's mum gently squeezed Matt, not seeing his face, Vera noticed his utter shock. She mumbled barely audible _"I told you so"_ , her heart fluttering happily. Her mum was smitten; there was nothing more she could wish for.

"Why don't we come inside? You must be tired…" her mum hummed when she let go of Vera's shocked boyfriend, his expression immediately falling back into politeness and happiness. Vera rolled her eyes at that, but nodded. The moment the door clicked behind them, the unidentified noises from before were there again. Then a bang echoed from the room behind the kitchen and suddenly there was something black and fast in the hall with them. And its _paws_ were on Matt's knees.

Vera stared at the image, mouth hanging open. Her mum was _horrified_.

"Šmarja, what did I do wrong, it should have held…?" her mum whispered under her breath, puzzled and Vera shot her a quick look before her gaze returned to slightly surprised Matt. Of course, out of the three of them, it was the blind guy who was the least surprised – Vera mentally snorted at the irony. He bended over, easily finding the dog's head, scratching behind his ears. The tail of the black creature started swinging wildly.

"Hey, buddy..."

Vera blinked, watching Matt squat and the Labrador lowered himself from Matt's knees, tucking his head closer to the source of the petting. Vera gaped for few more seconds, before she gathered herself and turned to her mum.

"Mum, you forgot to mention something important to me?"

"Uhm….We got a dog," she stated matter-of-factly and Vera nodded, fake surprise on her face.

"Oh, really? A puppy?"

The black creature looked too small to be an adult, but it wasn't like Vera would know. They never had a dog. She had always wanted a dog.

"Yep. Super cute, you're gonna love him," her mum reassured her and Vera huffed a short laugh, staring at her boyfriend, who was on a very friendly terms with the dog.

"My boyfriend's gonna love him, apparently. And it would be mutual."

"Is he Labrador retriever?" Matt asked curiously before her mum could respond. Of course Matt already knew - it was _him_. He probably smelled that or something. Jesus.

"Yeah. How did you know? He's black, by the way," her mum noted helpfully.

"Foggy – my friend – tried to talk me into getting one. Eye-seeing dog. He actually took me to a shelter, hoping I would break. And he failed."

The puppy freaking _lied down_ , exposing his belly for Matt to scratch it. Matt's lips spread into rather pleased smile. _Dammit, Matt, you're not supposed to be this cute, that cannot be legal._ Vera pulled out her phone, snapping a picture. Precious.

"You like that, buddy, hm?" Matt asked him, smiling. Alright. Why the hell not? Matt was damn good with animals. Why was she even taken aback by it?

"Brett."

Vera snapped her head to her mum, convinced she heard wrong.

"His name is Brett?" she reassured herself and her mum nodded.

Vera burst out laughing, Matt barely keeping it together.

Her parents got a dog. A black dog named Brett. Vera would never be able to look at Sergeant Mahoney with a straight face again. _Matt was petting Brett._ Vera took another picture. This was going to Foggy. And Terri. And Claire. And Karen. Everyone who knew the respectable officer of law. Not Brett himself though… maybe?

"What?" her mum demanded, not following.

Vera laughed again, unable to stop.

Vera was grateful her dad wasn't back home from work yet. It provided them enough time to settle down, chat over tea, coffee, and cookies, Matt complimenting her mum, saying that now he knew where Vera's talent for baking came from and all the shit Vera knew he would say. Her mum beamed, instantly falling in love with Matt. Vera watched them contentedly, finding Matt's hand under the table.

It was how dad found them. He didn't shoot Matt a single look – his eyes quickly found Vera, who stumbled to hug him shortly, because she knew he wasn't for long hugs, but he might make an exception. He did. Vera thought his eyes were glassy, but neither she or her mum said anything about it. The introduction with Matt was even shorter than dad's hug with Vera. He made coffee for himself too and disappeared into the living room.

Matt seemed a little disconcerted despite Vera's warning it would go pretty much like this. Vera's mum noticed, reassuring him this was good, that Daniel liked him. Matt was probably only convinced thanks to his ability to hear her mum's heartbeat.

It was almost evening when mum released them to Vera's room. They spent lunch time on the bus, so her mum insisted that she would make dinner for them, refusing Vera's help resolutely. Vera didn't exactly fight her, creeping up the stairs with Matt, hiding in her room. She sighed when the door closed, leaning her back against it. Matt turned to her, standing in the middle of her room. He looked ridiculously _right_ , standing here.

"You okay?" he asked softly, crossing their distance, running his fingers through her hair lightly. She rested her hand on his hip, smiling.

"Of course I am. You?"

"Yeah."

Vera tilted her head, examining his face. He seemed sincere. Her mum had offered that he could lose his glasses whenever he wanted to, but he hadn't done it, at least not yet. Vera reached for the item that was covering his eyes and possibly his true mood as well. The corners of his lips quirked as he let her take them off and tuck them in the pocket of his shirt.

Matt seemed strangely relaxed; 'okay' indeed. She pecked his lips, content.

He caressed her lips back slowly, his hand in her hair pulling her just a little closer, making something in her chest grow warm. God, she loved him. He was so brave for coming here in the first place and he was so freaking strong for holding on. He was doing _everything_ for her. She framed his face with her hands, sinking her lips into his, parting them. She could tell her sudden outburst startled him, but he quickly recovered, pressing her against the wood of the door. She hummed in satisfaction.

"I love you," Vera breathed to his mouth, rewarded by his arms squeezing her tighter and when the hell did he wrap his arm around her anyway? She didn't care.

"Love you too."

Her toes curled at the confession, sounding so sincere. She tasted his lips again, cookies and coffee, sugar, and Matt. Luckiest girl in the universe, seriously.

Matt rested his forehead against hers. "I'm glad I came with you. Are… are you?"

Vera glared to his eyes, unable to keep her eyebrow from rising. Just like she wasn't able not to sound incredulous. "Yes, Matt, I'm glad. Why wouldn't I-"

He quickly pecked her lips. "Okay."

Vera opened her mouth, not understanding. Why would he—everything was going smoothly, so-never mind. He was here, in her room, relatively happy. And something in her abdomen was knotting rather pleasantly, rising heat, because they were in her room, _in private_ , she reminded herself and while her mum was tolerant, they hadn't been too affectionate in front of her and Vera was realizing now just how much she was missing _Matt,_ and the dinner would take some time to prepare… if Matt needed a little reassurance she was glad he came here…

Something shifted in his face, curiosity appearing, when he sensed something in the air change. She ran her palm down his chest, meeting his lips again in passing touch. His breath hitched when he caught up on her mood. Her cheeks burned when he did, her hand stopping on his hip again, waiting. God, she was worse than a teenage girl. What was wrong with her?

She melted when he kissed her, hesitant. "You sure that it's a-"

The rest of his sentence got lost in muffled yelp when she kissed him hard, spinning them around. He definitely wasn't protesting though, firm grip on her arm as she fought her way under his shirt, the heat spiking inside her as she touched the warm skin on his chest. God, this man was work of art…

She had no idea where that was coming from – she was usually the one enjoying _his attacks_. Maybe it was the fact she was literally on her home turf or whatever, but she nipped at his neck, making his iron grip firmer, forcing a surprised gasp of him.

"Vera-"

She leaned into him, their hips bumping and she could immediately tell that no matter how surprised he was, he was also _very interested_ in what was happening. When she started to withdraw to give him a little space, she realized she couldn't – his other arm was keeping her on place resolutely. Oh yes. How long it was since…?

Well, if he wasn't letting her withdraw, there was only one way she could go – and that was closer to him. She bit the sensitive skin on his throat, bouncing her hips forward just a little and he fucking whined, silently, a sound aimed right to the warm in her gut.

"Verčo! Maybe I could use your help a little after all!" her mum shouted from downstairs and Vera whimpered _out loud_ , because of fucking course, how could she be so stupid and actually hope it would work out? She rested her forehead against the wall above Matt shoulder.

"Doprčič!" she vented her frustration, Matt's frantic breathing loud in her ears. She was panting as well. His grip loosened a little, running his hand down her arm and waist.

"This is rather new. I really want to know how it would continue."

Vera retreated just to shoot him incredulous look, her mind creating quite a vivid picture of how it would continue. "Not helping, Matt. But if you need to know… I would probably sunk to my knees…"

His eyes snapped open, lips parting. _Ha! Take it!_ "You-"

"I gotta go downstairs. You're free to- whatever. Come with me if you want to, I guess…" she murmured, embarrassed as hell, because seriously, what the hell was wrong with her?

"That… sounds lovely, but as much as your mum seems to like me, I don't think she would appreciate seeing first-hand evidence of how much I would like to…."

"Right." She pecked his lips. "Later."

Vera smoothed her hair, hoping she looked decent enough, fleeing the scene. She ignored the way her voice croaked when she yelled _"Coming!"_ to her mum and smiled at her when she arrived to the kitchen.

Surprisingly enough, the dinner wasn't too awkward. Matt joined the preparation few minutes after Vera, helping with chopping vegetables, and things seemed fine. They handled the dinner with casual bilingual talking and Vera at least had a chance to cool down. To Vera's even bigger surprise, her dad stuck around at the table for a while after dinner, trying to be sociable. By the time Vera and Matt wished her parents good night and went back to her room, she was actually tired enough to go to sleep. In addition, she actually needed to go to sleep, because she had to get up early the next morning. Because… well. Yeah. She forgot to mention that to Matt.

He cocked his head to side, wordlessly asking her if she was alright as she stood still in the middle of her room, while he sat down on the bed.

"Uhm, I need to… I don't have doctors in New York. I still have them here, so… I kinda set up few regular check-ups for tomorrow," Vera blurted out, offering him an unsure smile.

"Oh. Okay…?"

"It's up to you. I mean you can stay here, but I cannot promise my parents will behave well and I'm talking about mum, because dad is going to work in the morning—so yeah, that. Technically I can take you with me, make you wait in the waiting room, but… uhm. Well."

His right eyebrow shot up curiously. "Well what?"

Her cheeks flushed at the idea of which doctors she needed to attend. Eye doctor (and okay, that might be a little hilarious, if Matt appeared _there_ ). Dentist. And… _well._ She needed more pills if anything, okay?!

"Vera? What?" he demanded gently, rising to his feet.

"Lots of appointments. Different doctors," she babbled.

"I gathered."

"There is stuff you don't need to know, Matt," she whined, wishing she could just sink into the floor. "Things I don't _want_ you to know."

"Oh. Uhm. Okay. If that makes you more comfortable… but…" Vera would swear his ears turned red. Oh my god, _what?_ "You know that I know the… _stuff_ anyway, right?"

Her eyes went wide at the realization of how much he probably knew. She covered her mouth with both hands, looking away, unable to face him. _"Ježišmarja."_

This was taboo. People didn't talk about this. Girls didn't talk about this with their _boyfriends_. They were trying to keep them as far as possible actually, reducing the info to ' _we probably shouldn't sleep together for five days or so now'._ And Matt just _knew,_ Matt probably knew literally everything, hell, maybe even more than she did!

"Ježišmarja," she muttered to her palms again, squeezing her eyes shut.

Matt was quiet; it was so easy to imagine this conversation never happened. That she was alone in the room, only dreaming up this incredibly awkward situation.

Until his low voice sounded only a step from her. "You're different then."

Vera jumped and snapped her eyes open. _Come again? Jesus freaking Christ,_ that was possibly the worst thing he ever said. She drew her hands away from her mouth just slightly. "Not helping."

His lips formed a tight smile. "That came out wrong. I mean… _before_. It's… it's harder." He carefully reached to her face, tucking loose strand of her hair behind her ear. She felt her cheeks burning, almost flinching when he touched her. Taboo. Awkward. So embarrassing. "It's harder not to touch you. It's incredible what your body does without you being aware of it. Uhm… the meds are making it a little messy, but it's still like a beacon for me. And I like the light."

Whoa. What?! Vera blinked in surprise, her hands falling just a little lower, taking in his honest expression.

"Wait. Really?"

He chuckled and Vera felt her hands limping completely against her will. "Yeah. Kinda a lot. It's very hard to resist. So I usually don't. It's harder now too."

Her lips parted at the confession. It must be hard to admit something like this. Something so intimate. Matt offered it in exchange, she realized. She opened – not exactly willingly – so he revealed something on his own.

"Thank you." She hoped it was clear what she was grateful for.

He took it as a sign, erasing the distance, kissing her forehead. "We're good?"

Vera hid in his arms, face burring to his chest, humming in agreement.

"But you still rather if I stayed here," she heard his words whispered to her hair.

"You bet your ass I do."


	6. 6 A different kind of bravery

**6\. A different kind of bravery**

Matt didn't go with Vera to the doctors, thank god. He stayed in the house, finding a book in Braille they packed with them and kissed her goodbye. It was incredibly domestic and Vera couldn't shake off the feeling of Matt belonging here. In her life. In her home.

Sure, driving their old Fabia was a little rough in the beginning, but she managed the first journey without scratching the car – or anything else – and she ignored the shout of the impatient driver who needed to vent his frustration when Vera's engine died on a crossroad with unfavourable vertical drop.

The rest of her morning and part of her afternoon went alright, the docs reassuring her she was perfectly healthy (considering) and agreed to seal her records for her to hand it to another doc. Vera had no idea _how_ since it was in Czech with a few latin phrases, but she didn't argue. She picked up the pills prescribed by her gynaecologist and hurried home to her possibly tortured boyfriend.

Matt hadn't been tortured. He was in her room, a cup of tea on the nightstand, welcoming her with a bright smile and sweet kiss. Huh, she really could get used to the domesticity. The non-bloody kind at least.

After a late lunch, she found out Matt was a real hero. That was no news, but… seriously. He survived grandma's visit. Vera loved her grandma, she was family (Vera would never admit out loud she liked her other grandma better, because that was not a nice thing to say), only she was very obviously from dad's side of family. Which meant she was… cranky. And when she wasn't cranky, she was the queen of criticism.

Vera was clever enough to hide Matt in her room during the visit, but her dad slipped and revealed it. It started when Vera truthfully answered she had a boyfriend in New York and obediently informed Grans he worked as a lawyer (the first time it went to shit – _lawyers are greedy bastards with no morals)_. When Vera said he worked lots of pro bono cases, he was suddenly _naïve_. Obviously. At that point Vera gritted her teeth and changed topics, honestly grateful Matt might heard them, but couldn't understand Czech. And _then_ dad slipped. Vera wished she could just sink into the carpet, and tried to play it off with jet lag exhaustion excuse, which was a blatant lie, because Matt existed just fine – his sleeping patterns were a disaster before that, changing them wasn't a problem for him.

"Matt, I need you to take a deep breath and come downstairs with me. And possibly not to punch my grandma. Can you do that for me?"

Matt frowned, looking up from his laptop.

"I won't punch your grandma, Vera. Even if she punches me first," he joked and Vera would love to believe him, but she was ninety-nine percent sure Grans would make an ableist comment. Not that Matt would understand what she would be saying. "She sounds like a lovely lady."

"Matt, your poker face is terrible, has anyone told you before?"

Matt grinned, quickly changing from his sweatpants.

"Oh, and she doesn't know you're blind. Yet," Vera hummed guiltily.

"Should I take the cane for a good show?"

"Matt, you do _not_ want to have the cane with you, trust me." That would mean more comments and possibly a long distance weapon at his disposal, which was not a good idea.

It went as well as expected. Grans' first words were "What kind of an asshole wears sunglasses inside?" followed by "Who the hell is still taking a woman's elbow? Not to mention this doesn't look right." and brilliantly finished with "How old is he for god's sake?". Vera was ready to leave the country.

"Grans, this is my boyfriend, Matt Murdock. He's wearing sunglasses, because he's aware his unfocused eyes can startle someone, he has my elbow because he's blind and I'm leading him, and he's just the right age for me. Matt, I'd like you to meet my grandma, Františku Macháčkovou," Vera introduced them as calmly as she managed, while Matt put on his best smile, extending his hand.

Grans was obviously not impressed – she was never easily impressed – but shook his hand with a sigh.

"Nice to meet you, _young man,"_ she noted sassily and Vera was really, _really_ glad Matt couldn't understand her words.

"Nice to meet you,  ."

Vera froze, trying to get her shit together because since when Matt knew how to say that, but she seated him next to herself on the couch and reluctantly translated when necessary. Ableist comments she kept for herself, her mum shooting her sympathetic looks. Vera had a hunch Matt knew anyway.

Matt didn't punch Grans. Grans didn't punch him. Perfect. Vera never felt more relieved than when the door clicked behind her relative.

"Matt, since when do you know how to say 'nice to meet you' in Czech?"

"Since I heard my name downstairs and panicked, afraid your lovely grandma would like to meet me," he exclaimed with a grin and Vera snorted, pecking his lips on the top of the stairwell.

"Quick-witted."

"That's what they call me. Any other visits? Should I add something to my vocabulary?" he teased, pulling her to his hip, kissing her hair. Vera thought thoroughly for about two seconds.

"Depends. We're only meeting the gang tomorrow. What does your vocabulary consist of?"

"I love you. Thank you. Please. Nice to meet you. You have a nice voice-" Vera snorted once again and smacked his arm as they walked to her room. "And all the best to the newly-weds."

Vera raised her eyebrow, impressed. He got it mostly right. "That's amazing, Matt," she whispered, awed.

He smiled, wrapping his arm around her waist. "Also, blind, to know when people refer to me. And few words to know when people are talking about you."

"That's awful," she stated, grimacing. "And what does that mean 'to know when people are talking about you'?"

His smile grew wider, his thumb stroking her cheek as he tilted his head. "Beautiful. Charming. Lovely. Adorable. Gorgeous…"

Her eyes went wide when his thumb touched her lower lip delicately. "You-" She gulped, unable to speak. "You- you totally know these so you could flirt with the bridesmaids."

He rolled his eyes. "No. Just with one. Kiss me."

"I cannot bel-" He silenced her before she managed to finished the sentence. Vera couldn't say she minded.

Matt didn't know the plans for the night. Neither did mum and she seemed to be taken aback big time when she learned them. She stared at Vera, eyebrow up.

"You're taking him to a gym," she parroted for the third time and Vera patiently confirmed again with a nod.

"Yep."

"To a gym. You… came together to your hometown and you're taking him to a gym," she repeated incredulously and at this point, Vera wondered if she was speaking French instead of Czech. She thought nods were international?

"Yeah."

"Why? Why so late? Is there even open anywhere at nine p.m.? How did you manage that?" her mum wanted to know and Vera smiled, triumphant.

"Mrs. Kučerová."

"You talked _Alena_ into borrowing you a high school gym for a night?" her mum blurted out, her eyebrows lost in her hairline. Yep, Vera was very proud of this stunt of hers.

"And the weight room. Not for a whole _night,_ even though we didn't specify. I should just leave the keys in the post box."

"I myself ain't exactly fond of her. And she doesn't like you. You kept getting your ankle sprained because of dancing so often she thought you were faking."

"It wasn't _that often_. And I guess she's getting soft in her old age," Vera shrugged, carefree, and her mum shot her a strict look.

"Watch your tongue, young lady. She's only five years older than me. Why don't you just don't go to a fitness centre if you're so eager to work out? … You _are_ going to work out, right?"

Vera's face went red. _Oh my god._ "Ježišmarja. _Yes, mum._ We're going to work out in a completely decent way. Maybe come over few rumba steps for the wedding, Matt wanted me to teach him a while ago. He just likes his privacy. … People tend to stare at him, okay?"

Her mum looked slightly calmer, accepting the reasoning. "Okay… I guess that makes sense."

" _Thank you."_

"It's also how you met, right? Apart from the café. You're cleaning up the gym where he comes at night and where you have the fit-box lessons now, right?"

"Exactly how it happened. Nice, mum," Vera praised her and her mum sighed, frowning.

"I still don't get how you talked her into this."

"Honestly? Me neither," Vera shrugged and then the mischievous expression crept to her face. She had been planning this for a while, hoping it would ease Matt's stay in Czechia with her. Was there any better way for him to blowoff some steam? She doubted it. So, she'd set the wheels in motion few days ago. And the mission was completed successfully. "The box of postcards from New York probably helped."

"How the hell did you know she's collecting post cards?"

"Mum, her desk in P.E. teachers room is _surrounded_ by tons of post cards from various places," she deadpanned and her mum made a face.

"Fair enough. Looks like you planned it for a while. Duh. _Fine_. Just don't be too late."

Vera pecked her mum's cheek, grinning. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Matt was honestly awed when Vera announced him their evening plans. Like… he was on edge of incredulous the whole time. Starting when they were leaving the house.

"Thank you for this. Seriously, Vera. It means a lot." She smiled, tossing him wraps. His eyes widened even more. "You even packed wraps for me? How- why-"

"Hey, I tend to get cranky if I don't punch anything for too long too," she hummed, gesturing for him to throw the wraps back so she could shove them to her backpack.

"I don't get- okay, fair enough. You're amazing."

"Yeah, I'm a real catch, I know. I packed one more pair, but there is only one bag _in the corner._ Which kinda sucks. I guess I'll just have to watch. What a shame…" To her own surprise, she actually meant it. She _did_ like punching too, which was not exactly something she was proud of. Well, tough shit.

The moment they walked into the gym and Matt started mapping it out, she would swear she saw a light bulb blink above his head. Matt tilted his head, sensing his surroundings.

"There are mattresses in the back."

Her eyebrows shot up. It never got less shocking how much he could sense out.

"Yeah, there used to be, so I guess they still are. Point?"

His eyebrow rose in rather challenging way. "Do you want to spar?"

"Spar?"

"Well… whatever. Try to fight me. I taught you enough for you to try again."

"I'll be on the ground before I can say _I'm pathetic,"_ she stated soberly. Matt grimaced, walking to her.

"Don't say that, you know I hate it." Then his expression cleared. "You're getting better and better. And I'll go soft on you."

"Do you _want to_ go soft tonight?" she asked, doubting. She wanted to go here because of him, for him to get some stress relief. She would love to spar of course, participate somehow, but… this, tonight, it was about _him._ "I don't think I can manage to get the gym for another night when you realize you need to punch something. _Hard."_

"I can punch the bag later," he offered lightly and she shrugged, half defeated, half excited. Well, since he was offering…

"Okay."

The gym was nothing like Fogwell's, but Vera soon found out the magic of their sessions, the electricity in the air and the ungraspable tension had nothing to do with the room. Nope. Whenever they got into a compromising position, she found herself wondering why exactly she was breathing so heavily, air getting caught in her chest, her skin and insides burning. She didn't kiss Matt, not once. She was afraid that if she would, they wouldn't stop there. Matt must have sense her determination not to christen her high school gym, because he didn't press – but she was pretty sure that the sexual frustration was growing in his guts too.

They went over few steps of rumba too, even though Vera's body felt heavy from the work out. She ended up sleepily watching Matt as he was punching the shit out the bag, a content and _savage_ smile on his lips and she couldn't help smiling as well.

When he was finally done, he walked to her, panting, kissing her fiercely, effectively snapping her from her not-exactly-day-dreaming. Vera clung on his lips like a junkie on ecstasy, but that was it. They left the gym around midnight, pleasantly exhausted and buzzing at the same time.

Brett didn't even bother to do more than raise his head from his pet bed to acknowledge their arrival.

The morning, on the other hand, was brutal. Vera's muscles ached, she was fucking tired and on the top of that, she found few bruises on her elbows, knees and thighs. The bright side was that Matt kissed the bruises better before she went to cover the blossoming colours and if they wouldn't be hearing someone on the stairwell and in the hall all the time, she was pretty sure Matt was willing to do much more than _kissing the bruises better_. Life wasn't so kind to them though.

They were meeting the gang right after lunch, planning on helping with the wedding preparations – decorations, reception, _stuff_. Marky had given in to the recent trend and agreed to have the ceremony and party in a freaking chateau. Lots of people were doing it lately. So Vera borrowed the car from her parents once more, heading there with a not-so-calm Matt in the passenger seat. For some reason, he looked more nervous than when meeting her mum and dad – she suspected it was because Vera wasn't as anxious to actually _see_ them as she was with her parents and there was no need for him to be the strong one.

"Nervous?" Vera teased him lightly, smiling.

"No," he lied quickly.

"They are going to love you, Matt," she reassured him, stroking his thigh lightly. He caught her hand, running his fingers over its back. She glanced at him, stopping the engine. "But fair warning – they are dorks."

"As in more than I am?"

Vera looked at him for few moments, considering his question, before she leaned in and met his lips shortly.

"Hm… I think you're about the same level, actually."

"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in…" Anna hummed, noticing them first as they walked to the main room. She paced right to them, immediately stealing Vera from Matt's light hold, hugging the shit out of her.

"Hey, Ani," Vera whispered, returning the hug wholeheartedly, something stinging her eyes suspiciously. _Dammit, Veronika, you will not cry again._

"Sorry, that was rude. I'm Anna, it's nice to meet you. You must be Matt," Anna introduced herself, letting go of Vera, turning to Matt with a grin he couldn't see. He returned it though, extending his hand.

"That would be me. Nice to meet you too."

"Sure it is. Anything to drink? Water, juice, coffee, beer, rum, whiskey?" she asked cheerfully and Vera watched her suspiciously. This wasn't like Anna, not the Anna Vera expected.

"Driving. Juice with water?"

"Coffee sounds nice?" Matt offered hesitantly.

"Sure. Will be ready before you meet the rest of the crew." Anna winked and she was gone.

Vera turned to Matt, baffled. Corners of his lips were twitching. "She had rum with coke. Half of the glass was rum if my guess is accurate."

Ahhhh. "Well, that explains it. Her boyfriend broke his leg not even a week ago. She was pissed he wouldn't come to the wedding, I was afraid she would be cranky. Spooked yet?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Liar."

Meeting the rest of the gang went just fine. Well, Tomáš, the groom, tried to shake hands with Matt while Matt 'had no idea' where the hand was, so that was a little awkward, but otherwise it was nice. Matt cracked two light blind jokes within one hour, gaining Vera few curious looks and raised eyebrows, was assigned with dressing the chairs, because it required minimal vision, and boys even asked him to help with moving tables a little, so that was cool. Vera was keeping him a safe distance from all of curious questions of Anna, Marky and Jitka by spending time with them at the bar, helping with the reception. Things were… good.

"Here, approximate timetable for you. So you know when I'll need your help – not much, don't worry. And when you need to be here, ready to catch the bouquet," Marky informed her with tired excitement and Vera rolled her eyes mentally.

 _Translation: When I need to vanish._ Vera gave her tight smile. "Right."

Vera always thought wedding bouquet tossing was cute. Now she understood it was _pure_ _evil._ Vera could quite vividly imagine it led to disagreements in a relationship. She came to several conclusions: The bouquet tossing was invented to spook men. It was invented to make men uncomfortable while they would struggle with keeping their smile on when people around them patted their back, hinting to them that they had to propose soon since their girlfriend caught the bouquet. Vera imagined Mattat the receiving end of all that if she got 'lucky' and she made a very resolute decision. No, she would not be around for the bouquet tossing. Not because she wouldn't want to stay with Matt and possibly marry him, but because she _did_ and that meant making this bearable for him _._ And going here, she could only imagine it wasn't easy in the first place. She didn't want to make it even more difficult by putting him into that position.

So no. No bouquet tossing with Vera around.

"Matt seems really nice," Jíťa hummed.

They had already listened to Anna whining, Marky's problems, Jitka's _nothing-is-happening-in-my-life-now_ , so it was expected. Honestly, Vera was amazed they had lasted that long. She wondered if Matt started listening, hoping he might catch a word or two.

"Understatement," Vera grinned back, not elaborating.

"Hot stuff too." Vera snapped her head to Anna's direction. "What? I have eyes. I like to look."

Well. Vera had discussed the clothing with Matt. He apparently didn't own jeans, which what the actual hell, and hoodies made him look incredibly adorable and domestic, so they settled on older shirt and suit pants. Sometime during the table moving, he had rolled up his sleeves; it might didn't reveal his biceps (they had thought of him wearing a t-shirt too and Vera had decided it wasn't a good idea) and the shirt wasn't _that_ tight, but… she remembered she used to drool over their math teacher's forearms in ninth grade with her friends, okay, so it was _enough_.

"Did he seriously make a blind joke?" Marky added and chuckled.

"Yeah, he does that. He's a little bit of a dork. You should see him with his best friend sometimes."

"He's so cute. I can't imagine him slaying someone at court," Jíťa admitted. Vera smirked. Well, not only at court.

"He can, trust me. Matt can turn from teddy bear to grizzly in no time." She thought she heard him choke in the next room. She bit her cheek, somehow satisfied. _Eavesdropping, Matt, bad habit._

"Seems everything is alright between you two. All patched up?" Marky asked with a smile. Right. Three months apart. They remembered well.

"Yeah. I think it's safe to say we're more than alright."

"Glad to hear that." Vera smiled brightly at Jíťa.

"Thanks. He's… I don't know. When I met Alex at the benefit, he asked me why I was with Matt, since he couldn't even see how – and I quote – _stunning_ I looked that night," Vera revealed, grimacing at the memory. She would slap Alex all over again if she could. "I told him… I told him Matt sees me better than anyone. I meant it. He's… I can't really imagine myself with someone else. I know people always feel this way, but…"

"I get it," Marky ensured her, flashing her another quick smile. "You look great together. I only met him for a moment, but he seems like a really good fit. And you look happy."

"Can't argue with that one," Anna confirmed. "Toast to that?"

"That seems rude. It's not _my_ wedding tomorrow."

Jitka laughed. "Oh, honey, I'm giving him… two or three months. He appears to be the kind of a guy who takes these things seriously."

Vera couldn't tell whether she was pleased by the idea or freaked out. She raised her juice. "Let's just drink to happiness, shall we?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Fun" fact – when Anna says 'look what the cat dragged in' in Czech, she's being unintentionally funny, because in Czechia, we don't have 'cat' in that idiom. We say 'what the _devils_ brought in'.


	7. 7 Revelations

**7\. Revelations**

The moment they stepped into the house, they got attacked by Brett. Vera couldn't suppress her smile. She was not over the fact their black dog was named Brett, ever. She had gotten various responses to her instant messages from her friends, but mostly they had been something along the lines ' _lol'_ and ' _you're shitting me'_. Brett hadn't answered. Yet.

"Brett, down!" her mum yelped as his paws went on Vera's jeans, but the dog didn't care in the slightest, his tail wildly swinging and Vera would swear the puppy was smiling when she scratched his ears.

"Hi, pup. Hey, mum."

"I don't know if you ate, but I defrosted the wedding minces from Marky. If you want."

"Oh, thanks."

"Corner mince is there too," her mum prodded and Vera's eyes went wide, shooting her a look or horror, resisting the urge to shake her head violently. Perfect. When it wasn't the bouquet tossing, another brilliant tradition was there to scare Matt. Who invented this stuff anyway?!

"Thank you, Mrs .Machackova," Matt noted politely, giving her mum a smile, even though he had obviously no idea what she was talking about. Her mum smiled back brightly, not even admonoshing him for addressing her wrong. Vera rolled her eyes.

"We ate a little something. Thanks, mum."

"So there _a little_ space for the mince, huh?"

"Mum, he doesn't know the tradition. Please don't scare him. He might run away."

"I picked up something about a tradition…?" Matt asked hesitantly and Vera cursed mentally.

"Oh, yeah. It's the corner mince. When two people who are in love – not married, though – are invited to a wedding, the corner mince is added to the invitation. They should share that one," her mum explained easily and Vera made a face, warning her not to go further.

Matt looked at Vera, puzzled by her sentiment. "So you're just being greedy? Is it that good?" he teased her lightly and Vera sighed.

"Nope. What mum didn't say was that it should be eaten under a table. I— I don't want to make you crawl under a table, Matt. It's not that I mind sharing."

"Sharing is caring…" he hummed, sensing she was keeping something else from him, _not_ sharing. Smart-ass. He shrugged. "I don't mind crawling under the table."

"See? You're overthinking things."

Her mum didn't explain the point of tradition though. Vera was incredibly grateful.

" _What else is new…"_ Vera muttered under her breath. "You know that I might end up sharing it with Brett if you don't hold him during this ridiculous tradition, right?"

It _was_ ridiculous. Vera had already been to one wedding, she already _had_ shared one corner mince and she _hadn't_ gotten married soon – as a matter of fact, a year later she had ended things with David. Lucky charm, wasn't it?

"It sounds cute," Matt noted, feeling the chair, moving it away so he could creep under the table. Vera looked up to the ceiling, shaking her head. Why was everyone insisting on ruining her relationship? Including Matt?

As expected, Brett followed Matt, thinking it was some kind of a new game. Vera's mum called him away, keeping him on place.

"I'm waiting, miss Machackova." Matt grinned and Vera chuckled, taking the stupid mince with her.

"Are you gonna tell me?" he challenged her in low voice as she crawled next to him and she just shook her head. She broke the mince in half. "I'll find out anyway, you know."

"You don't want to know, Matt."

"I'm pretty sure I do. So, are you gonna kiss and tell?"

"Can we just do the first part?"

Matt made a doubtful noise, chuckled, but leaned in, pecking her lips. Vera grinned when he withdrew and kissed him again. And again.

"That was three times. You owe me the 'tell' part."

"Later." _Never_. "And this was barely a kiss."

His lips were on her ear instantly, brushing gently. "Then yes, _later_. _"_

Vera hated this, she really did. Marky had given her the dress for bridesmaids. The colour looked even worse than in the picture. It wasn't green, it wasn't lime— and was that a hint of blue? It was… _something_. Vera would be able to live with that – if anything, Matt couldn't see the colour, the material felt rather nice and the design wasn't bad either, short cut, simple. The dress wasn't perfect, but she would handle that. However, her hair… she wanted to _cry_.

"Ugh!"

That was the most comprehensible thought she was able to vent. Vera hadn't gone to a hairdresser to make the hair look okay, because that would mean cutting them again, and she _wanted_ long hair. Matt wanted her to have long hair too. The problem was there was a certain period between fashionably short and long hair.

 _Guess what, Veronika, that period is now._

A light knock on the bathroom door made her head snap up. "Yes?"

"Can I come in?" Matt asked carefully and Vera sighed, humming in agreement. There was nothing incriminating he should be sensing. He peeked in. "You okay?"

Vera didn't even manage a smile, pouting, and Matt let himself in, closing the door again. He embraced her gently, kissing her _goddamn hair._ "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"I hate my hair!"

"I like your hair," he protested softly, playing with its ends to support his exclaim. Vera was vaguely sure that what he said was an understatement. "I'm glad it's finally growing back."

"Well, I can't do shit with it. It won't hold in anything and I don't like it hanging loose. With the combination of the dress and this, I'll look like a fairy high on angel dust."

His body tensed and his nose nuzzled in her hair deeper; he was clearly holding back laugh. Vera frowned harder, trying her best to ignore the comforting stroke on her back, because Matt was _laughing at her_ that was _not_ even close to comforting.

"That's oddly specific." He loosened their hug, raising his hands to the disaster on her head, running his fingers through it with adoration. "Can I?"

Vera had no idea what he was asking, but melted when seeing his smile while he mapped her scalp and she hummed in agreement automatically, losing the pout.

His fingers started moving rather systematically and it took her a while to realize. Because she would never think of something like this being possible.

"Are you braiding my hair?" she asked him incredulously despite knowing that it was exactly what he was doing. Since when could Matt braid hair? Even if he could, somehow, since when did he just _braid her hair?!_

"Shhh," he soothed her, his expression getting focused as he got engaged in the surreal action. Vera obediently closed her mouth. It wasn't like she had anything else to say. She was too astonished to speak anyway.

Minutes passed, or maybe hours. Vera honestly didn't care, relaxing into his touch. It felt nice. Then he stopped, tilting his head, as if he was evaluating his work. He gently turned her around, her hair still in his fingers since he had no hairband.

"See, how about that? Just a very cute fairy. Without the drug addiction," he chuckled, traces of uneasiness in his voice, afraid of the verdict. Vera… stared.

The work wasn't perfect, but… it actually did look kinda cute. It was simple, just two rather loose braids, high on sides of her head, connected into one on the back. She would do it in three, five minutes tops, yet it was... pretty great.

The expression of the Matt in the mirror grew more nervous. She smiled at the reflexion, aware he couldn't see it. She reached for a hairband, taking the hair from him hands. He offered her a hesitant smile. She rewarded him with an enthusiastic kiss.

It took them about half of a minute to get her seated on a washing machine, letting him between her thighs, giving in to an inappropriate make out session. Vera was slightly amused – he didn't play with her hair this time, mostly tracing her face or the rest of the body, cautious not to ruin his masterpiece. _His_ hair wasn't out of limits though which she might and might not shamelessly abuse. She felt the heat quickly rising in her lower abdomen, persuading herself it was okay to tug him closer.

By the time Matt winced, hearing someone at the stairwell, she wasn't the only one who was apparently excited. Dammit. She did _not_ want her parents to know— well, they probably figured her and Matt weren't exactly platonic, but they didn't need to _see_ it. She nipped Matt's lip for the last time, maybe a little desperate, rewarded by his low whine, and let her hands fall from under his shirt.

God, almost five days. They rarely lasted _five days_ ever since he had come back (with the exception of… well). It was a fact. Physical love was… important aspect of their relationship, sue them. No seriously, sue them, Matt would crush anyone who would try.

He rested his forehead against hers, breathing heavily.

"You know you're slowly killing me, right?" he rasped, his fingers still digging in her thighs and ass.

Vera licked her lips, eyeing his crotch subtly. "I have a vague idea. It's not like you don't know what you're doing to _me."_

His breath caught in his throat. He looked a little in pain. "That's probably the worst part," he complained and Vera felt the blood rushing to her cheeks, pressing her lips together to stop herself from saying something… well, something. One of his hands travelled to her chin, fingers running over her lips – she subconsciously released the tension in them, letting him examine the swelling he caused.

"Knowing you want me back… it's the best part too," he breathed, forcing a tight smile.

Vera smiled honestly, kissing his thumb lightly.

"Come on. You take a shower, I'll make tea. Big day tomorrow."

"You figured out your hairstyle? Nice."

Vera almost had a heart attack when she heard her mum appear behind her back. Vera spun to her, hand on her chest.

"Sorry. Didn't want to startle you," her mum noted apologetically.

"I was just… thinking, Sorry. It was Matt, actually," Vera hummed, slightly embarrassed.

"Really? He braided your hair? Does that happen often?"

"Nope. Never. I think he aims to impress you," Vera grinned as her mum examined her hairstyle curiously.

"He's doing well then. He's… he really likes you, honey. If he's still trying to make up for the lost months, I cannot be angry with him. Can't blame him for playing maybe even dirty; he wants you to stay with him in US, _badly_."

"Oh, you got all that from him braiding my hair," Vera chuckled, slightly embarrassed. She knew he was trying hard. And he was being very successful, because she couldn't imagine him not being here or him just disappearing from her life; it would fucking hurt like hell.

"No. From the way he's acting around you," her mum explained softly, gentle smile on her lips. "He's blind – though I think he's well adjusted –, but he's still trying his best to be a gentleman. And he really cares about you."

Vera was puzzled by the emotion behind her mum's voice – she could tell her mum meant what she was saying, but there was a hidden note Vera couldn't quite decode. It almost sounded like a question… or a secret.

"Oh. … Uhm. Well, I care about _him_ , obviously. Can you really tell all that just from-" And then it hit her. _"Ježišmarja,_ did you interrogate him? Did you— did you give him a _shovel talk?"_

"Can't blame your mum for being curious and protective!" she protested immediately, throwing her hands up just a little.

Vera stared at her in horror. Vera knew her mum was a marshmallow most of the time and probably hadn't scared him. However, she was also confident it couldn't have been a pleasant experience for Matt.

"Šmarja, MAMI!"

"I'm serious, Verčo. He's taking you over the ocean for another year at least, I'm not-…" Her voice suddenly sounded weak, unfamiliar creak in it and she had tears in her eyes. Something clenched Vera's heart painfully.

" _Oh, mama."_ Vera left the cups on the counter, making her way to her mum, wrapping her arms around her. She returned the hug so fiercely Vera felt like in a freaking vice.

"I miss you, sweetheart. He's stealing my babygirl from me. I have to make sure I'm letting her into the right hands," she tried to justify herself and Vera hummed in response, wordless ' _I understand, I'm not mad'._

"I miss you too, mum. So much. All of you." Her mum caressed her hair, careful not to ruin Matt's work. It made Vera smile through the tears that were gathering in her eyes. _Again_. "…And what's the verdict? Are his the right hands? Or you haven't decided yet?"

Her mum loosened her hold slightly with a huff. "He's older."

"MAMI!" Matt wasn't _that_ old. He was seven years older. It would be different if she were still a teen, but they were both adults. Seven years weren't too many.

"And he's _blind._ I have no idea how despite all that I'm so far convinced they are," she muttered exasperatedly and Vera grinned.

"He has that effect on people."

"…And dogs."

"And dogs, apparently. That's a new one," Vera admitted, remembering the adorable image of the puppy exposing his belly for Matt to scratch, doggy smile and tail swinging happily.

"Haven't seen him interact with animals so far?"

"Nope."

"It's a good character barometer," her mum noted knowingly and Vera sighed, resting her head against her shoulder. _Her mum giving her life advice and wisdom._ The stinging in her eyes got more intense, so she quickly directed her thoughts the right and less teary way.

"I _know_. I think I'm gonna frame the picture."

"Good thinking." They fell in short comfortable silence until she spoke again, playful note. "You warned me he's gonna be polite and charming, you didn't warn me he's going to be cute _._ He's a grown man. He's not allowed to be _cute_. Šmarja. Now go, don't keep him waiting."

She patted Vera's arm lightly, not really letting go. Vera didn't want to let go either, not now.

"He's gonna get more than enough of me later. Now I'm talking to you," Vera muttered, sending Matt a silent apology. Her mum only reconsidered shortly.

"Okay. I guess he can handle few more minutes, can't he?"

"Yep."

Vera felt like she was in a freaking teenage movie, like was a girl being picked up by her boyfriend at her parents' house to be taken to a high school prom; they were a few differences like her getting up relatively early, because the ceremony was at eleven and she was just a little bit older than she should be, but still. To make the illusion perfect, Matt was waiting at the bottom of the stairwell when she walked down. And he gave her a perfectly gorgeous smile when she stepped on the last step. American high school prom movie scene, seriously.

Of course, they weren't a typical couple either. Matt couldn't just look at her like any other boy or man could – so she took his hand, guided it to the top of her dress and let him decently examine it, while the fingers of his other hand carefully felt her hair, earrings and necklace.

"You're beautiful," he breathed, hesitantly kissing her cheek, probably unsure of what he was allowed to do in front of her mum.

"You say that because you can't see the colour," she babbled, uneasy. She lowered her gaze despite the fact she knew he couldn't look into her eyes, even when his gaze was so intense and focused he would fool her. "It makes my face so pale that it looks like I'm about to be sick."

"Verčo!" her mum admonished and the corners of Matt's lips twitched. Uh-uh.

"Does it? I haven't noticed."

"Smartass."

Of course he used the opportunity to make a blind joke. And of course he turned it into a compliment in a second as well.

"It's probably because the bride doesn't want you to steal all the glory."

 _Goddammit, Matt, ease up._

"Good work, Matt. Keep going like this and she won't be anything close to pale," her mum teased. It was a poor cover up for the fact she was apparently impressed by their interaction. Impressed. Content. Charmed.

 _The fabulous lines of Matt Murdock, everyone. Prepare to be charmed._

"Are you _blushing?"_ Matt asked with a satisfied smile on his face.

" _You know that I do,"_ Vera murmured under her breath. "A little. Probably." Totally _._

"Perfect." Matt didn't even bother to hide his smugness.

"We'll see. Just wait until I give you the tie. I bet you'll look pale too," she threatened.

Matt was smoking hot in the suit, of course. He didn't even need to wear a tie to accomplish that, but it was pretty much required. Plus, it was the same colour like the dress, it had come with the package.

"Good thing I won't know about that."

"I'll remind you any time needed," Vera assured him sweetly, her lips curling in a smile, ignoring yet another joke. Matt's palm covered the chest area over his heart theatrically.

"That's so considerate of you."

"Anything for you. Anytime."

Vera could tell her mum watched the exchange like a tennis match, shooting Vera a disapproving look. She probably thought Vera should be more polite and grateful for Matt's compliments. But Vera wasn't very good at taking compliments, that was no news.

"I swear I don't know who raised her like this. I sure didn't. Must be New York," her mum apologized wryly.

Matt turned his attention to her, giving her an extra smile. "I heard the quarrel of lovers is renewal of love. I know she's shy and doesn't know how to react. And every time I think she's finally about to accept the compliment…"

Vera closed her eyes, hearing her mum's shocked exhale. This might be one of Matt's best strikes; hinting to her mum that he complimented Vera often enough for her to almost get used to it, while proving he knew her well enough to not really assume she would be taking the compliments with ease and grace. If her mum wasn't smitten and approving of him before, she sure was _now_.

Vera cleared her throat. "So. Shall we? I'll tie it up in the car. Mum, please?"

Her mum blinked, apparently snapping up from some kind of a deep thought. "Sure. Let's go."

They did, Vera's mum heading to the wheel. Matt whispered " _kinky"_ to Vera's ear on their way to the car and Vera smacked his bicep.

" _Tying up? You'd like that, huh?"_ she shot back, voice barely audible.

Her eyebrow rose and her lips parted when his only response was a gulp. She chased away the indecent thoughts, the flush in her face getting more intense and she quickened her pace. But she shoved the idea somewhere in the dark corner of her mind, because it might be useful one day.


	8. 8 Stand by you, standy by me

**8\. Stand by you, stand by me**

Vera wasn't quite ready to see Marky standing in her wedding dress in front of the mirror. Her friend was freaking beautiful and Vera came to conclusion Tomáš was one lucky bastard. Vera also had no idea who prepared the chairs in the chateau garden and the wedding arch, but whoever they were, they did a very good job. The arch was richly decorated with white roses weaved through the construction, yet not over-embellished. White and light green-blue tulle was hanging between the chairs alongside the aisle; at its beginning, there was a basket with rose petals prepared for Marky's niece Klárka, who would walk ahead of the bride, throwing them and creating a path for her.

Goddammit. The ceremony hadn't even started and Vera was already being sentimental.

The soon to be newly-weds lucked out with the weather too. It was a beautiful Indian summer, a light warm breeze, sunrays still providing a little heat. The ceremony started at eleven, and by some miracle actually on time. Vera was now prepared for the sight of her friend and her niece in cute dresses, petals tossing and even the soft violin music that played when Marky walked down the aisle. What she hadn't imagined before was the wide smile of the groom when seeing his wife-to-be; his face was priceless. The officiant had a rather boring cliché speech, but no one seemed to mind, some people cried.

For some reason which Vera didn't understand herself, she got through the ceremony without crying. She smiled like an idiot, cheered with the others when the notary pronounced Marky and Tomáš a married couple after them exchanging the rings, but no tears; maybe she had run out of them.

Matt was politely quiet next to Vera, even though he probably didn't understand a word. Their hands were clasped together, only separating when they needed to clap. Both Vera and Matt congratulated the happy couple, helping to create a wedding exit, an aisle of people blowing bubbles.

Matt didn't ask Vera for description of things most of the time, but there was a moment when he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Okay, I get most of the things that happened, but what is _that?"_ he asked, confused, probably unable not to only perceive the object properly, but also not understanding its meaning. Vera didn't blame him.

"Well. It's an alternative to carrying the bride over the doorstep. Yes, it's a rope with several child toys tied to it. I think it should symbolize that now that they are a married couple, they are allowed to cross the line and have kids. I'm actually not sure about this one," Vera explained hesitantly, Matt's 'huh' being the only answer she got.

Vera narrated what happened during the ceremony in retrospect, trying not to leave out any detail. She also started describing the little things Matt's senses couldn't pick up from the moment on – the decorations, the frosting on the cake, crazy creations on women's heads, jewellery, anything Matt wanted to know.

Vera was partly proud and partly horrified she hadn't cried; but of course, she broke during the first dance of Marky and Tomáš as a married couple. Neither of them was a particularly good dancer, so they were only swaying to the rhythm, but Vera fucking saw their expressions and screw everything and everyone, this was _love._

So yep, she was crying. She had been doing just fine during the ceremony, but this? With that song? No way she could have won. Matt had his arm around her waist, his lips in her hair. She knew he was laughing at her. Mentally.

"Shut up."

Matt cracked – she could feel his chest vibrating inconspicuously at her accusation. "I didn't say a word."

"It's the song," she defended her uncontrollable emotions.

Matt's voice was low and soft in her ear when he spoke up again. "Vera, you're emotional, I know that for a fact for a long time. That's not something you need to be ashamed of. The song is beautiful. Translate?"

Vera gulped, considering his request. Well, it might distract her a little. If her voice was trembling, Matt didn't comment.

"Okay. Uhm…

 _Wish for whatever you want  
_ _a goldmine or a tower  
_ _sweet salt, sorrowful paradise  
_ _dry rain._

 _Take it, I'll bring you  
_ _the ocean or the sandy coast  
_ _the music of the universe, take it  
_ _and take me too…"_

"Sounds nice."

"It's… it's from a musical. It gets super sad. Now shush and stop laughing at me," she mumbled, still partly ashamed and relieved at the same time – she definitely didn't get emotionally flat and was still able to cry over _nice things_ too.

A dance with parents followed, lots of photos were taken, and then each person found their own activity. A few people went dancing, some attacked the reception and Marky took Vera, Anna and Jitka for few shots. Vera was reluctant, but it was _for the bride_ and Matt seemed very happy about letting her to get a little buzzed, so she didn't quite have a choice.

They also went dancing – while Vera hadn't had a chance to dance with Matt yet, Anna insisted that all four girls together had to go dancing for at least few songs.

So Vera found Matt in the ballroom, at least checking on him, feeling bad she was somewhat neglecting him. To her surprise, he was standing by the wall, talking to two other guys she didn't recognize, and he looked almost comfortable.

"Huh, sorry, who are those guys? I don't think I've met them before…?" she asked hesitantly, not addressing any particular person.

It was Marky who answered her. "Oh, that's Lukáš and Martin. I might have asked Tomáš to set Matt up with his friends. Lawyers from the firm he works at."

Vera looked at her with endless gratitude. "You are a genius, you know that?"

They probably didn't work the same kind of cases since they did corporate law or something, but they spoke Matt's professional language – possibly better than Vera. So she really was incredibly grateful, feeling less guilty for staying on the dance floor. Of course, they didn't do ballroom dancing.

If Vera was being honest, she thought she sucked at this kind of dance, like the kind that was happening at clubs and places like that, but in the crowd of four, she felt less awkward. The little alcohol in her bloodstream probably helped.

"I am not staying for this song," she laughed, but was completely serious.

If the lyrics were Czech, than maybe, but god, she knew that even if Matt was still engaged in his conversation – which he wasn't anymore – he would be listening. The song was catchy as hell, she liked it, they even used to have a performance with the contemporary dance group as a joke, but- but. The singer was Czech singing in English. And the first lyrics were _hey boy, take my body, spank me, I've been naughty._

"Oh come on! It will be the last one, promise. Show me what you got. Remember anything?" Anna challenged her and Vera sighed. Yep, Anna was in the contemporary dance group too. She remembered.

"Wait, I remember!" Jitka exclaimed, snapping her fingers. "You used to perform this one, didn't you? Vera, come on. Anna, hit it!"

"I'm going to die…"

Still, Vera caught the rhythm and joined Anna… dancing the Charleston. She could feel Matt 'gaze' burning through them, but she tried her best to ignore it, just enjoying it, explaining the technique to Jitka. Marky's long skirt was making things difficult, so she wasn't joining much. Nevertheless, it actually was kind of fun.

"Alright. I need a drink."

"Another round?" Marky offered and Vera's eyes went wide in horror.

"God, no! Another round of juice or water. I've already drunk more alcohol today than in a year," Vera protested, technically lying through her teeth, because she used to add whiskey in her coffee when Matt went all bloody crusader with Stick. Did that count?

"Buzzkiller," Anna noted, but they all went to the bar, each of them choosing a drink by their liking.

Matt was grinning when Vera approached him, leaving the girls to her own devices.

"Don't say it," she warned him and his grin grew wider.

"Alright then. I wanted to tell you that you're the most beautiful of the four of you – of all women here actually – and definitely the best dancer, but if you insist…"

Vera blinked. He didn't look like he was kidding. "Oh. Uhm. Thanks? I don't really rock the whole… spontaneous modern dancing or whatever…"

His eyebrows shot up. "Really? I didn't notice. The last one was particularly cute."

It was a good thing her face was already flushed from the dancing and hot air in the room. God, _spank me, I've been naughty._ Vera subtly face-palmed.

"I mean it," Matt laughed, removing the hand from her face, pulling her closed to him. "Does the dance have a name? It looked systematically…"

Vera snorted. "Yeah, it does. It's called the Charleston and it's approximately from the 20's. So much for the modern dancing, huh?"

"You're an old soul," Matt hummed, causing her to laugh.

"Geez, thanks, Matt."

"You really were beautiful, you know? Don't sell yourself short," he urged, kissing her temple and then changed his mind, finding her lips for a short moment. He tasted like Champagne and cranberries and Vera quickly looked around before kissing him again, lingering for a while.

"Quit that, we need you," Anna appeared behind her shoulder and Vera jumped, almost having a heart attack. The truth was though that when Vera checked the time, she found out they did need her.

Vera considered the tradition a little weird, but hey, whatever. The groom was given a blindfold and he was supposed to find his wife, choosing among several women. The trick was he was only allowed to touch their feet. And Vera distantly remembered volunteering, because sure, why the hell not. It was actually kinda cute, very Cinderella style. Tomáš either remembered the shoe or they agreed on some sort of signal with Marky, but he succeeded.

The real fun started when the role reversed and Marky was the one blindfolded, the rules almost the same. Only she had to identify her husband by… well, touching his butt. That was the part Vera found weird, but she knew people often included this game in their wedding program. Vera didn't offer Matt to be one of the test subjects. Anna leaned to her ear the day before, whispering she totally understood, that Matt's booty was a treasure – it was yet another situation when Vera was incredibly happy about Matt not being able to understand what her friend was saying.

"Don't ask," she muttered when Marky got the blindfold and started touching the butts. "Just… don't ask."

"Not asking."

"Good."

Vera rudely ignored what was happening on the dance floor with Marky and crew, observing Matt instead. He seemed relaxed – what was really happening in his head was a mystery though. Was he pretending to be alright for her sake? Was he actually internally screaming, overwhelmed by noise, smells and tastes? Or was he handling it, but was bored?

The corners of his lips quirked. "I can see you staring, you know."

"No, you can't," she murmured absently, examining his expression and stance. Her hand touched his, inconspicuously finding the pulse point on his inner wrist. His left eyebrow rose in question. "Are you okay?"

He tilted his head, giving her a warm smile. "Yeah. I'm okay, sweetheart."

Vera involuntarily smiled at the endearment, not losing her focus though. "So… no sensory overload?"

Matt shook his head, his free hand reaching for her waist. "I'm fine, Vera. You don't need to worry about me. If I was overwhelmed, I could find my way out."

She sighed. "I know you could. It's just… I know you would put up with more than you should just for me not feeling bad for keeping you here."

He chuckled. "Okay, that's fair. But I like it here, alright?" His pulse didn't falter once. He was telling the truth. Vera leaned onto his shoulder.

"Like it here, huh? Does that mean you're not enormously bored?"

His other eyebrow shot up as well, surprise on his face. Then his expression changed into mischievous one. Ah-oh.

"How could I be? You put on quite a show," he teased her and Vera groaned, letting go of his hand and stepping back. Matt didn't let her, wrapping his arm around her waist. Vera gave in in the end, hiding in his embrace, decently enough for the sake of people around them.

"You know what? I'm done worrying about you. Screw you," she murmured and he squeezed her tighter, placing a kiss to her hair.

"I love you."

"Now you're just trying to save your ass."

He chuckled. "Maybe. But that doesn't make it less of a truth."

 _Oh damn you, Murdock._

"I love you too. Even when you're being a smartass."

Matt's hushed laugh shook her body as she was standing too close to his own.

It could be seconds or minutes later when Matt cleared his throat unexpectedly. Vera raised her head she had been resting on his shoulder curiously.

"May I have this dance, miss Machackova?" he asked, probably aiming for confidence, but sounding quite nervous. Vera's heart skipped a beat. As if she could say no to that. She scanned the dance floor – there were several couples slow dancing. When she allowed herself to listen to the song for few seconds, she recognized rumba. She wasn't sure which dance Matt planned on trying out, but she was definitely all in.

"I thought you'll never ask, Mr. Murdock," she replied sweetly with as much confidence as he did. Which meant about zero confidence and voice with inconspicuous tremble in it.

"Uhm… lead the way?"

Vera chuckled and led him around the tables, finding a spot big enough for rumba creations – or for simple swaying in the rhythm. Matt surprised her rather pleasantly when he held her for the Latin dance.

"Are you sure? We don't have to."

"Are you saying we shouldn't?" he asked, hesitant.

Vera quickly shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant. I'd love to dance rumba. If you're willing."

His lips curled in a beautiful smile. "Let's do this."

Matt let her start, slightly unsure of catching the right moment by himself, but from the moment on, the dance was her dream coming true. Vera knew Matt had been amazing, they had trained, but once he found the tempo – which was practically immediately – he seemed so confident, as if the dance felt natural to him. Vera caught herself smiling too. Matt sometimes whispered which variation he would like to do when feeling he wasn't giving enough signals, when he thought his leading wasn't clear. Vera softly assured him he didn't have to, because he was doing great.

 _Hand to Hand. York. Aida. Hockey Stick. Hip Twist. Sliding Doors. Sweetheart._ Vera was so fucking proud of him.

She was enjoying every second and the song ended too early. Matt let her make another spin, so she ended up with her back basically pressed against his front. Vera closed her eyes, smiling. Nope, she was not about to cry, not again.

"We're good?" Matt whispered to her ear and she just nodded, not trusting her voice. "You're amazing, Vera. Beautiful."

Vera cracked her eyes open, noticing few people watching them and thought screw them, turning her head so she could peck Matt's lips.

"That's because you're leading me so well."

Vera had heard more than once that if two people worked together well on the dance floor, they would work well in the real life too. She hadn't quite believe it – she had worked just fine with Alex and maybe two other boys from her former group, but she was confident Alex was a jerk and there was no way they would click in personal life, so she assumed it was the practice that made them synchronized. Any two people who would train long enough would cooperate just fine.

With Matt, things were different. They hadn't spent too much time practising; he had been catching up fast, moving intuitively, attentive to her needs. And maybe she could let herself believe it wasn't just his heightened senses that allowed them to harmonize on the dance floor, there was something deeper and much more complicated behind that. Or maybe it was simple; they just fit together perfectly and that was all.

With that thought, her whole body spun and her hands framed Matt's surprised face. She met his lips properly.

Because they fit together perfectly.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The song Vera was translating is called Stín katedrál (The Shadows of Cathedrals) and it is indeed from a Czech movie musical. You can listen to the song here on youtube easily.

By the way, the musical is called Rebelové (The Rebels), is set in Czechoslovakia in the 60's. It's a little (a lot) crazy and sad in the end, but man, remembering that song, I think I should watch it again :D


	9. 9 The land of forbidden thoughts

**9\. The land of forbidden thoughts**

"I'm glad I've learned few Czech words."

Vera, completely relaxed and ridiculously content in Matt's arms, tensed. They had been dancing for a while, three or four slow songs, alternating rumba with slow dancing or simply swaying. Vera hadn't been thinking – she only had let the music consume her, happy in the company of the man she loved, surrounded by her friends, warm all around her. They didn't speak, neither her nor Matt, so it took her by surprise when he did, especially since he said such strange words.

"What do you mean?" she whispered back, not bothering to raise her head from his shoulder.

She thought she heard smile in his voice. "They are talking about you a lot."

"…are not," she protested, hoping she was right.

"They have. When we've been dancing. Some of them still are," he opposed and Vera felt his muscles shift as he tilted his head. This time, she knew for sure he was smiling. "Beautiful. Lovely. I heard those a lot. The two women in the corner, behind my back, my left. They are… I'm not sure what they are saying. Uhm. 'Sekne jim to'?"

Vera let out surprised chuckle, her eyes darting to the corner Matt was talking about – there were indeed two women, perhaps around thirty, watching them. The moment Vera looked at them, they looked away. Busted.

"Huh. Is that what they really said?" Vera wondered, retreating a little so she could face Matt.

He shrugged. "It sounded like that. Why? Is it bad? I think one of them sounded a little jealous?"

"Well, they do have every right to envy me. But they said we looked good together."

"Oh." Matt smiled, kissing her forehead. "I can't tell by myself, but I guess they would know. And don't make assumptions; people envy me too. I have you." Then he frowned. "What does 'k sežrání' mean?"

Vera almost choked on her own spit. "Who the heck said _that?!"_

"Not sure which one of them. But she must have been talking about me, because she said 'blind' as well," Matt explained.

Vera huffed, shooting the two women a murderous look. Nope, she would not be the girl to openly touch Matt's butt or stuff like that just to mark her territory, but she could kill with her glare at least.

"I suppose it was something offensive…" Matt muttered. "Forget it. I'll stop."

"Sure. If you consider her saying she could ' _eat you'_ offensive," Vera deadpanned and Matt's eyebrow shot up so high it almost touched his hairline. He also seemed a little confused and embarrassed. He gathered himself quickly though.

"Wow, she has no shame, does she?"

"Apparently. I have no idea who she is. It doesn't matter."

It didn't. However, Vera still couldn't help a sting of jealousy. Which was stupid. So what, some women were checking him out, ogling. As long as they didn't act on it, she didn't have to give a shit. And even if they would, Matt wouldn't let them-

His hum broke her train of thoughts, his hand appearing on her cheek. Vera only had a chance to blink before his lips met hers. She gasped to his mouth, letting him in unintentionally, but she caught up fast. She didn't need to prove anything to anyone. Nevertheless, an offer like this couldn't be ignored. She claimed his upper lip, feeling him smile at her reaction. His arm pulled her a little closer.

"Are you trying to prove a point here?" Vera breathed when he slightly withdrew, giving them both room to get some air. Speaking of air…

"Maybe. Or maybe I just really wanted to kiss you."

She snapped her eyes open. "The song is ending. Do you think you may want to get some fresh air?"

She glimpsed his smile, knowing the answer before he even spoke up again. "Yes."

Vera pecked his lips one more time, feeling his hand sliding to her elbow. She didn't spare a single look to the women. Screw them. Who cared? Matt's fingers gently squeezed her arm as if he could hear her thoughts. Vera smiled, leading him away from all the curious and lustful eyes.

She snapped a selfie of both of them when passing a basket with bunch of flowers. She had promised Terri she would let her know how they were doing regularly and since she was texting her, she send the photo to Karen, Foggy, Danny, Claire and Nina as well. In the end, she shared with Trish too, wondering how Father Lantom's relationship with technology was, because he might like a picture of them as well. She mentally grinned at the idea, dismissing it.

Both Matt and Vera breathed in gratefully. She didn't realize how heavy the air inside was; it was actually nice to get outside. The long shadows were falling on the chateau garden, last tones of pink remaining on the sky. The lanterns bordering the paths were slowly switching on. Yeah, it was pretty romantic, okay. With Matt by her side, it felt a little like a fairy tale. She snuggled closer to his side, smiling when he kissed her temple.

"They are looking for you," Matt whispered to her lips, thumb stroking her cheek.

Vera frowned. Why would they be looking for her? She wasn't sure how long it had been since she and Matt had disappeared and found their own little private place by a small lake, far enough from it so they wouldn't be bothered by the mosquitos flying over it, but it didn't seem relevant. Vera eyed her watch peripherally and her heart jumped. Yep, that would be it.

"What is it? Do you need to go back there?"

She shook her head lightly. Matt caressed her nose with his, their lips touching gingerly, almost teasingly. Even if she _did_ in fact need to go, she wouldn't. Not when he was like this, somewhat high-spirited (maybe slightly buzzed), tender, absolutely loveable. _Jesus_ , she just wanted to kiss him senseless, freeze in this moment, stay in their happy bubble forever. She sunk her lips to his, one hand on his shoulder, other one on the back of his neck. Matt smiled, but answered her the same way.

And then he huffed a laugh, breaking the kiss. "She's angry with you. Furious, actually."

Vera rolled her eyes. "Who is?"

"The bride. You're in some serious trouble. Do you know why she's looking for you?"

"No, I'm most certainly not and yes, I do. I'm not going anywhere," Vera exclaimed with confidence, sliding her hand under his jacket to run her fingers over his abdomen. She felt him tensing under her touch, but she knew it was in a good way. She left his lips only to kiss his throat. He released content hum.

"What does 'zatracenou kytku' mean?"

Vera's mouth froze on his skin. "Nothing important." She gave him another kiss, lower. His Adam's apple jumped. "You're awfully aware of your wider surroundings. I must be doing something wrong."

His chest shook with hushed laughter as she slid her hand in the space between two buttons of his shirt, fingertips tracing his skin. His grip on her side tightened, breath caught in his throat. _Success._

To her utter disappointment, his other hand took her wrist, making her less decent hand retreat. His lips whispered to her ear, voice surprisingly husky. "If I let myself take in _everything_ about you, what you're doing and what you were doing during the dance, certain pieces of your clothing would go missing quickly, trust me."

Vera was very much _not_ ready for the jolt of heat that spread in her abdomen at his words. She could imagine his smug smile when he sensed that. She decided it needed to be kissed away.

His whole body went rigid a second before Vera heard the female voice.

"Veroniko, get your ass over here right now! Leave this— _whatever_ for after ten p.m.!" Anna yelled after her and Vera groaned, forehead banging against Matt's chest. Why was it always Anna? Also, it _was_ ten p.m.

"Should I be glad I don't understand?" Matt asked and Vera tilted her head back painfully, sighing.

" _Yes_. Coming!"

She honestly wished Matt would stay where he was, but his curious expression hinted her that he definitely wouldn't.

"Wanna tell me what happens now?"

Vera just whimpered, offering him her arm and he took it, putting his glasses back on.

"Vera?"

"I'll probably get hit in my face by the wedding bouquet for trying to avoid it, that's what," she mumbled and Matt only let out silent ' _oh'_ , not daring to comment further. Vera could feel his fingers twitching on her elbow though.

Now, when she thought about it, it probably looked like she was hoping Matt would never propose, maybe even that she wasn't thinking they would stay together. Which wasn't the truth. It was- _Jesus Christ,_ she _hated_ that tradition.

"It's— it's stupid. I just don't want to catch it and expose you to my friend's hints that if you don't drop to one knee in next few days, you're not a man. It's like with that freaking corner mince… "

"So it's not that you-"

Vera was taken aback how epically he failed when aiming for a light tone, worry creeping into his voice, so she hurried to prove his worries baseless.

"No, it's not that I have commitment issues or planning on changing my mind and send you back to New York alone only with my Czech address, so you could pack my stuff for me."

Matt stopped in his tracks, making her stop too. Vera turned her head to him, surprised. His hand slid under her jaw easily, guiding her lips to his mouth, rewarding her exclaim with a sweet kiss.

"You know you _can_ catch it, right?" he breathed and her heart jumped.

What did _that_ mean? Vera gulped, quickly deciding she did not want to think about it, because he was certainly only implying that he could handle few annoying people and not- _that's why you didn't want to think about it, remember? Overthinking things, Veronika, you're always overthinking it._ Oh god, she didn't like weddings and stupid thoughts they created in her head.

"Well, if Marky aims at my face, I might not get another option," she squeaked, trying to chase away the annoyingly warm feeling – _not warm, he didn't mean it like that, Veronika, shut up_ – spreading in her chest.

Matt's smile was brilliant and brighter than sun. "I hope some of the flowers get stuck in your hair to complete your _fairy_ appearance _."_

Vera giggled at the idea, unable to resist the urge to kiss him again. He was making it very difficult to act decent.

"Veruno!"

"Alright, alright…"

Marky didn't aim at Vera's face. But _somehow_ the stupid bouquet ended in her hands anyway. She wished she could sink through the floor, her eyes darting to Matt who was smiling effortlessly as Jitka's boyfriend Karel stood by his side, unnecessarily narrating him the result.

When the general excitement fell, Vera approached Matt with burning cheeks and murmured " _sorry"_. He licked his lips, hand finding hers maybe too clumsily even for an act, feeling the flowers. Vera was surprised when he pulled out one of the smaller blossoms from the bouquet, tucking it to her hair. Her face got even redder, because she was confident that at least few people were watching them, but her heart fluttered at the tender gesture.

Vera would swear she heard him murmur " _perfect"_ when he gave her forehead a light kiss, but she was probably just imagining things.

They danced after the horrible event again. They also stopped by each person Vera knew and hadn't seen for a while to exchange few words, but honestly, the level of alcohol in most people's bloodstream was getting a little too high for Vera's liking. She didn't want to be a hypocrite, she knew she had her fair share as well, but this was too much. It was making them overfriendly, losing their boundaries when it came to touching, and while Vera didn't mind that with her friends, from the people she considered barely acquaintances was the same behaviour everything but pleasant. She wondered if it was too early to leave.

Matt must have sensed her displeasure and hesitance, because he leaned to her ear, whispering. "You want to leave."

"Do you?"

His smile was tiny when she turned her face to his, but definitely sincere. "Whenever you want to."

Vera found herself smiling too. "Have I ever told you I love you?"

Matt seemed extremely focused all of sudden, looking like he was trying very hard to remember. "Yeah, once or twice. I don't mind hearing it again."

"So very considerate of you. Lucky me." The words were less playful than she intended, but she didn't really care. She did consider herself luck after all.

They found the groom at the bar, naturally, with Marky's younger brother, both drinking a glass of something that was probably whiskey. Vera cleared her throat politely, Tomáš turning to her, confused at first. Then he grinned widely; oh, he was so very drunk. Marky was going to kill him on their wedding night.

Tomáš didn't seem very disappointed they were leaving, but Vera didn't expect him to. She thanked him for the invitation, congratulated him together with Matt again and went to track down the bride. She found her in heated discussion with Jíťa, both girls waving when they spotted her and Matt.

"Oh, please, tell me you're having a good time," Marky breathed, sounding tired despite the smile on her face.

Vera returned the smile, but Matt beat her to answering. "Wonderful time, thank you."

"…but you're leaving."

Vera's smile turned apologetically. "Sorry. We really did have a good time, so maybe it's time to wrap it up and save the great memories."

"Macháčková leaving just before midnight. Good to know some things never change," Jitka noted, giving her a quick one-arm hug. "We're counting on you to help with the cleaning up tomorrow?"

"Definitely," Vera promised and said Jíťa her goodbye for the night.

"Thank you for coming. I'll walk you?" Marky offered. Vera just nodded and started walking towards one of the rooms in the back, serving as a cloakroom.

"Are _you_ enjoying it?"

Marky snorted and that was really all Vera needed as answer. "I can't believe this took months of planning. I mean, there were so many details we forgot anyway and everything is just gone in _one day_ and night. It's crazy…. But yeah. Yeah, I'm enjoying it."

"Well, that's all that matters, isn't it? Mrs. Nováková."

"Oh god, don't remind me. I can't believe I gave in and ended up with the most common last name in Czechia," Marky whined and both Vera and Matt laughed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, what was your name before that again?" Vera mocked her and Marky smacked her arm. Marky used to be Svobodová. That was like the second or the third most common last name in Czechia. "Just saying."

"Point taken- oh crap. They are boxes with sweets for guests to take home. Please, tell me you'll come with me so-"

Vera laughed. "Sure. If you insist. But we don't have to-"

"Oh, you're getting your box, Macháčková," Marky argued stubbornly and Vera rolled her eyes.

"I'll wait here. Go," Matt invited her and Vera couldn't resist kissing his cheek before leaving him in front of the cloakroom.

Of course Marky commented on Matt being an amazing human and made sure Vera saved the wedding bouquet somewhere.

"It's in the cloakroom, don't worry. Well, apart from the-" Vera gestured to her hair, where the single blossom still was, not falling only thanks to some kind of a miracle.

"Yeah, that part was pretty adorable. You know, sometimes I doubted it was me who was getting married today. You look really happy together. You actually might be next, you know," Marky noted incidentally and Vera felt her cheeks flushing.

 _Do not think about weddings, Macháčková._ Quite a challenge, considering she still was attending one.

They entered the kitchen, finding Marky's cousin Bára there, taking one box too. Apparently, she was more educated on things than Vera was. They exchanged quick hello.

"Well, I don't know about that. Thank you, Marky. It was great. I hope you enjoy the rest of the evening."

Vera didn't really paid attention to Bára until the woman shrieked in absolute horror. Vera almost had a heart attack.

Bára was staring at her eight year daughter Klárka (Or was it seven? Vera couldn't remember.), standing by her side. Vera was not following. What was wrong?

"What are you doing here?"

"I got really bored. You said we were leaving and it was taking you sooo looong," the approximately eight-year girl whined, obviously tired as hell. Bára didn't seem to notice or decided to ignore it in favour of another issue, abruptly making her way to the door, Klárka right behind her.

"Klárko… I told you to watch him. You were NOT supposed to leave him!" the mother thundered.

Vera was slowly beginning to understand. Ah-oh. Klárka was supposed to watch her baby brother most likely. Honzík. That couldn't be good.

But Klárka grinned, actually looking proud. "I didn't leave Honzík alone _._ I'm not _stupid_. I left him with the man."

"What man?!"

"The one you danced with," she exclaimed as she was leaving the room, beaming at Vera. "The one with the funny glasses."

Yeeeah, well…

"What?!" Bára blurted out, horrified. "He's blind! Doprčič!"

She darted to the cloakroom as if the Devil was snapping at her heels, followed by Marky, Vera and bewildered Klárka.

"What does 'blind' mean? … Oh, wait, I know this. That's when people cannot see, right?"

Bára didn't give a shit about her daughter asking questions.

"Yes, Klárko." Vera sped up to catch up with the furious mother. "Baru, he's gonna be fine."

Vera was sure he would. Klárka might have given Matt some instruction he hadn't understood and Vera had no idea how was Matt with kids, but she was fairly certain he wouldn't let the baby get hurt. He wouldn't get anyone hurt if he could help it; unless it was someone hurting others, obviously. Plus, she doubted _anything_ happened in the few minutes he was babysitting – assuming Klárka went from the cloakroom right to the kitchen. The worst case scenario was Honzík crying because of the absence of his mother.

When Bára stumbled through the door, followed by Marky, both freezing, Vera couldn't help startling. She wasn't wrong, was she? She glimpsed over their shoulders, worried of what she would see; she wasn't ready for it. This was a scenario she would have hard time imagining. Her heart grew bigger the longer she stared at the incredible picture, unable to say a word.

The baby was in his arm, gentle embrace, yet obviously firm, safe. Matt wasn't wearing his glasses. Vera knew he couldn't see the little boy, but his face bent to him anyway as the baby was gripping the earpiece of the missing glasses, tiny fist stubbornly tugging them closer; vainly, Matt's other hand wasn't about to give them up, teasingly pulling them away, letting him win them and taking them again.

Vera was _not_ ready for this.

And she was absolutely not ready for the soft smile on Matt's lips.

"What's happening?" Klárka demanded, pulling her mother's skirt, not seeing over the wall of bodies. Her voice snapped Matt from his trance as she was the first to speak and Matt – _Jesus Christ,_ Vera was _not ready_ to see Matt with a baby in his arms – looked in their general direction.

"Sorry. He started sobbing, so— uhm. My options were kinda limited-" he babbled, his face turning back to Honzík as the baby let go of the glasses and reached for Matt's cheek, ending up on his mouth instead due to Matt's motion.

Matt's mouth spread into even wider smile and Vera's heart was squeezed by something she couldn't quite identify. She glimpsed the warm brown eyes for a fraction of second; there was a twinkling of happiness she hadn't seen in them before, like _ever,_ and it took her breath away. She couldn't speak. The picture was now carved into her brain, Matt with a baby on his arm, cute smile and shining eyes and-

"It's— it's okay. T-thanks," Bára let out with difficulties, sounding rather dazed than relieved. And Vera understood, okay? The world was spinning a little.

Matt gave the mother an unsure smile as she walked to him, setting Marky's and Vera's legs into motion too. Vera walked on autopilot. She couldn't think _._ Matt handed Bára the baby carefully, pressing his lips together when Honzík sniffed, but snuggled to his mother's chest.

Marky lightly poked Vera's ribs. "You know, you could have just told her he was good with kids," she noted, reproaching Vera letting her cousin freak out.

Vera just gulped, observing Matt freeing his glasses as the baby had managed to get grip on them once more. It took Vera a minute – until Matt won the battle and put his glasses back on – to say something back. She couldn't force her voice to be louder than a whisper.

"I didn't know."


	10. 10 Perchance to dream

WARNING: This chapter should be rated, but since is the only one, I didn't rate the whole fic.

You have been warned!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 **10\. Perchance to dream**

Marky's uncle was the taxi driver for the evening, offering his services to anyone who needed them. Since it was a long way to Vera's family house, she decided to accept the generous offer. The ride was quiet. Vera couldn't make herself to say a single word apart from thank you when they were getting out of the car.

Vera wasn't angry with Matt, even though it might look like it due to the silence. No. She was simply holding onto the picture which seemed to be burned onto her retinas. It was _impossible_ to make it go away. Frankly, she didn't _want it to_ , not really, despite the thought being intrusive, gnawing and incredibly annoying. Because. Matt. Kids. Right.

 _Shit._

Vera wasn't much for thinking about the future. Like… she really wasn't. Sure, there were things she knew she wanted, expected or knew would never happen, but… she had never spent too much time connecting these _things_ and creating a whole picture. Like connecting the fact she wanted to have kids one day with the fact she was very much certain she wanted to stay with Matt and honestly couldn't imagine being with anybody else for a while now. Which inevitably led to only one possible end.

So. Yeah. That… there was that. One side of it. _Her_.

And then there was _Matt_.

What did Matt want? He had openly admitted during the infamous Nelsons Christmas that he wasn't thinking about the future too hard either. For obvious reasons; no matter how much Vera hated the thought, how much she liked to pretend it wasn't the truth, his way of living was dangerous. He was risking his life every day. Night. Actually both, day and night, considering a few not exactly safe cases of his. So. Kids. Out of question?

But _Jesus freaking Christ_ , the stupid twinkling, the stupid light in his eyes, the careful and protective hold on the baby, the stupid, _stupid_ smile when cradling the little boy and when the baby reached for his face— _ježišimarja._ Matt had looked like he had been born for this, as natural as he seemed when fighting, as if he was _breathing_. No one can just _give up_ breathing.

So what? The moment Vera saw the baby in his arms, she was pretty sure that _he_ _wanted kids_. But-

"Yes," he said softly as he followed her to her room, the door behind them closing without her noticing it. The word snapped her from her thoughts, her head spinning to him.

"What?!" she blurted out and for a split second, a horrifying thought struck her; did she say any of that out loud?

"I'm not sure what exactly you're thinking now, but I think I have a pretty good idea. And the answer is _yes_. I don't know how- I can't imagine giving up the mask or the practice, I can't imagine making it work, not to mention I would be terrible at this, but- yeah…. Yes, I would like to have kids one day," Matt admitted quietly, sheepish.

And he was right of course. Making it work with all the craziness around him? That would be _tough_. Yet, she felt a suffocating weight being lifted from her shoulders, the tension in them dissolving. The lump in her throat on the other hand, it didn't disappear, growing instead. _Jesus_ , Vera was sure _she_ wanted kids. But the new thing was, as the obvious threads were interweaving in her head now, that she wanted to have kids _with him_. She was one hundred percent certain of it. How crazy was that?

"You will be amazing, Matt," she whispered, or rather croaked, unable to find her voice, quickly escaping his unseeing eyes.

 _You will be amazing._ _Will I be by your side? Can you imagine it? Can you imagine_ _ **us**_ _?_

She breathed in shakily, exhaling slowly.

When Matt didn't say anything for a while, she carefully raised her gaze back to his face. His eyes were glassy. He looked like he had just gotten the biggest compliment ever. He was just a little frozen.

"You- you believe that," he stuttered with disbelief and Vera realized he must have been listening to her heartbeat, checking if she meant it. Of course she _was_.

The uncertainty was killing her; he apparently wanted kids one day, he just confirmed her suspicion. But what exactly meant _one day?_ _One day when things are a little calmer? One day when I think I'm ready? One day when I meet the right girl?_

Vera gulped at the last thought.

"Of course I do."

Of course he would be amazing. He would be the fun parent and mother hen in one person.

Matt pressed his lips together tightly, his chest shaking with silenced chuckle. He took few steps in her direction and she squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable line.

 _When I say 'one day', I mean when I find the right girl._

They had never talked about it together. Probably for a reason. Her heart began to break.

Matt wiped away few solitude tears from her cheek with what could be his thumb; Vera didn't look to make sure. She didn't even realize she had started crying. Of course she had.

"Why are you crying, sweetheart? You don't… you don't want kids? But I thought- we'll figure it out. If you don't want your own, we can adopt or- please, _please_ , Vera, we'll figure it out. _Together_. I-" he spoke in tight voice and Vera let out a blend of sob and chuckle, colliding with his chest, silencing him effectively. Her heart just skipped a beat and she could feel that his own started racing after her attack.

' _We'll figure it out. Together.'_

He tentatively wrapped his arms around her, squeezing lightly, enough to make her feel safe, _loved_ , not enough to make it painful.

"I know it's too soon. But I promise I'll try. We'll make it work. I know you'll probably just want to kill me most of the time, but I'll be doing my best. I'll be more careful when out. I'll be out less in the first place. I'll be there for you…"

"You really want? With me?" Vera mumbled to his jacket, barely comprehensible. She felt his lips in her hair.

"I just said that, didn't I?" he confirmed, sounding bewildered, his chest vibrating with the words. Vera swallowed against the lump in her throat, which was still growing, but now it the best way possible.

His body tensed all of sudden, his pulse doing funny things. "You- you didn't think I would want this with anybody else, right?"

She let out a tiny startled sound, almost feeling guilty when hearing his tone. She felt his embrace loosening, so she tightened hers. Yet, his hands found her face, using maybe too much force to make her look up.

"Wow. Now I'm really offended. Do you think I would talk about that in front of you if I didn't? Do you really think I would be such an ass?" he demanded, indeed sounding offended. Oops.

There was not enough room for her to feel guilty though. She was on cloud nine and her chest was fucking heavy with something that wasn't quite unpleasant. He wanted kids with her. He expected them to _stay together_ and _have kids_.

" _Jesus,_ Vera."

"I'm sorry," she shrieked nonsensically and he faced the ceiling, probably pleading God to give him strength.

"No other way of doing this. No one else. She's gonna be so lovely. She's gonna be like you a lot. Definitely your hair." He ran his fingers through her hair gingerly, kissing the top of her head and she shivered. "Your laugh. It's gonna be contagious and when she's gonna laugh, everyone in the room will want to laugh too. Beautiful eyes. I'll have to chase away boys, because everyone's gonna love her."

"Your eyes," Vera heard herself mumble, biting her cheek right after the words left her lips. But to hell with it, Matt was getting sappy and she loved it, she could be sappy too. "She's going to have _your eyes."_

" 'Kay. But mostly she would be like you. She'll be driving us crazy, because she's gonna be stubborn. Brave. Smart. Caring. Just like her mom."

Vera was watching him in awe; his gaze was distant, dreamy, soft smile on his lips. She didn't need to see it, she could hear the emotions in his voice, but it was a marvellous picture. She wanted to snap a photo.

"What if it's a boy?" she asked, greedy for more.

Until few moments ago, she had no idea he had any kinds of imaginings close to this and now she couldn't get enough. He had been thinking about it before. Ježišmarja. He had been thinking about them. _Together_.

Matt looked down at her, one corner of his mouth raised in uneven smile. "Well, I hope he'll still take after you. Because if he's getting my temper… .But we could deal with that too."

 _He would love his kids. Matt would love his kids with his whole heart,_ she realized, the picture of the baby in his arms and the memory of the smile, that goddamn smile, flickering in front of her eyes.

"I love you," she blurted out and his smile widened, delight and tenderness. God, she wanted to kiss him senseless. She wanted to hold him and never ever let go. She wanted to-

"I love you too. I know it's too soon for that, but you deserve to know I want it." He kissed her lips lightly, but sweetly. "And I want it _with you."_ Another kiss, lingering. _"If you want it too."_ If he was about to keep those kisses coming, she would probably agree to anything. "Whenever you're ready."

This time Vera met him halfway, relieved and lightheaded, her fingers deliberately interweaving in his hair, her other hand clutching his tie, pulling him closer as she walked backwards to her bed.

"That soon?" Matt whispered to her lips, dazed and a little startled.

She silenced him by sucking his lower lip. Her knees hit the edge of the mattress and she almost fell backwards; a helpful arm quickly wrapped around her waist to spare her from the terrible fate.

"No, not unless you have some superpower you forgot to share. But we need practice," Vera hummed, sitting down and crawling back.

His lips followed, sweet and eager and there was something in his touches, something she didn't feel whole day or perhaps whole _six days_ – she felt him losing it. She remembered his words earlier that evening _._

' _If I let myself take in everything about you, what you're doing and what you were doing during the dance, certain pieces of your clothing would go missing fast, trust me.'_ The idea was unfairly arousing.

"Agreed."

 _Good_.

One arm as his support, his other hand rolled up the hem of her dress, fingers wandering up her thigh, stopping on her hip, tracing the line of her nylons.

Vera bit him gingerly and he parted his lips as an invitation, meeting her tongue immediately, his fingers pressing to the skin of her side, knees bordering her waist. Then his hand disappeared – before she could be disappointed, she caught him fighting with his jacket. Good thinking. She helped him to lose his shirt as well. She didn't want to bother with the ugly tie, so she let him deal with that.

Their lips never separated, but now, when he got closer, she knew that pressing her body against his would do just a little bit more than before. Once she did, he sighed to her mouth in appreciation, the sound sending a jolt of warm to her lower abdomen. God, she wanted him. And she wanted him _right_ _now_ , because she just couldn't wait anymore. Six days was it?

"Lots of practice," she gasped when Matt freed her lips in order to kiss a path down her neck, sucking a mark. Screw _marks_ , she wanted to- his hand mysteriously reappeared, finding a way to her inner thigh, heading dangerously high and close to her desired destination. "So- much practice."

Her next words got caught in her throat when he actually did reach the destination, caressing her over the fabric. His lips returned to hers.

"You talk a lot."

"Make me stop," she challenged him and Matt didn't need to be asked twice. He didn't bother stripping her – he just slid his hand under her nylons and underwear. She felt his smile against her mouth, pretty sure he was more than content with _how_ _much_ she obviously wanted him to make her stop talking.

"So eager. So beautifully wet for me…" he praised, but before she could shoot something back, possibly check how much eager _he was_ , his tongue slipped to her mouth the same time his fingers slipped into her. She pretty much lost ability to speak and _think_ after that.

His mouth. His tongue. His fingers. _Jesus_.

Her hands finally caught up with what was happening and reached for his neck and side. And lower, for his belt. She wasn't thinking _much,_ but when he twisted his fingers, forcing her to gasp into his mouth, she changed her mind, _screw the belt,_ and touched him over his pants. His other hand – the less indecent one – squeezed her waist and he honest to god whined, a needy sound making her insides burn. He rolled up her dress, vainly fighting to get it as high he obviously wished.

"You're wearing too many clothes," he complained, his voice on the edge. She stroked him again and his breath got caught in his throat.

"So are you."

His fingers slipped out. Vera was startled at the loss; but he simply used both hands to pull her dress over her head, tossing it aside, quickly undoing her bra, hands on her breasts just a fraction of second later.

Whoa. She wasn't the only one who wanted something really badly. And right now, she felt betrayed, because he had just… stopped. That wasn't nice. That wasn't nice of him at all. She undid the buckle of the fucking belt and button of his pants and slid her hand under his boxers, stroking his length. So hard. Leaking. Gosh she wanted-

The tiny whimper that left his lips made her lower belly throb with need. He fucking _tore_ the nylons, making her gape.

"You-"

Matt silenced her protest with his mouth, chasing her hand away, pulling his pants down just slightly. Before she could collect herself, Matt pushed her panties aside, fighting to attach their hips. Not very practical.

Vera didn't care, arranging her hips to help – and he finally slid into her. Her breath hitched and she moved towards him, a tremendous feeling tingling in her fingertips. _Yes, please._

For several moments, it was just their laboured breaths, wet sounds, their hands wandering, body on body, their hips moving in wildly synchronized way. Her mind was blank. She wanted. No, _she needed-_

He sank deeper and she disconnected their lips only to throw her head back, overtaken by pleasure as he hit the right spot. He moved his mouth to her neck, obviously not bothered about the loss. She wanted to tell him to go faster, to go deeper, to do _something_ , but she needed to swallow the words as she realized for the first time that they should stay quiet.

"Come on, I'd like to hear some pretty sounds tonight…" Matt purred in her ear lowly and she shook her head instead of an answer.

He moved in a rather smart way, finger stroking her clit, agonizingly slowly, making her want to let out one of the sounds he obviously craved. She bit her lip so she _wouldn't_. Something resembling a growl resonated in the back of his throat.

"Not happening," Vera breathed out, shutting her mouth before she could whimper at his next thrust, "thin walls." She fought bravely, her chest rising rapidly in quick breaths. "You can hear it an-"

She actually tasted blood as she bit her lip through.

"I like it better when you're not able to hold it in…" he teased, voice low and her irritation at his smugness just reached the right level to be put out, so she moved her hips in a motion maybe too resembling their dance and enjoyed the gasp and face he made. _Success_. "Had any experience in being too loud in here?"

And _she_ was the one talking too much, huh? Vera thought of the answer carefully – well, she _wanted_ to, but her brain was shutting down and it was totally his fault. "Actually, ye-"

She could immediately tell it was the _wrong_ answer. _Or the right one, depends._ He thrust so hard and deep she let out a startled yelp or something indefinable – definitely _loud_ though. Her palm covered her mouth quickly, but it was too late.

God, let her parents to be asleep. _Deeply_. Unconscious maybe, just to be sure.

"Good girl," Matt whispered to her ear fondly and she wished to be unconscious as well. She wished to black out from embarrassment. And she fucking wished the simple praise didn't make her toes curl and something in her insides twist in a pleasant way. "I knew you could be loud…"

"I hate you," she mumbled to her palm and Matt just pushed it away, replacing it with his lips, caressing with almost mocking tenderness.

"Now come on, that's not true, sweetheart," he breathed to her lips, his words vibrating against them. His finger kept fondling her clit, quickening, and with his small movements, small but still _so_ _deep,_ she could feel she was almost there. She whimpered as she was getting on the edge, the warm and tension in her abdomen rising, begging to be released. "That's it. Let me hear it. And tell me the truth. Tell me you love me."

She couldn't. If she opened her mouth to speak, another _loud_ sound would escape her lips and she didn't want that. His finger disappeared.

God, she hated him.

"I love you," she whispered instead and he rewarded her with what she wanted.

Her muscles were tightening periodically around him and he pressed his lips to hers, muffling both of them, following her orgasm just with several more hard discoordinated moves.

His fingers were no doubt bruising her hips with his grip being so strong, but Vera couldn't find herself to care, letting the feeling of almost simultaneous orgasm consume her. God, she had never thought it was actually possible, before she had met him. Apparently, it _was_. She hated Matt and she fucking loved him at the same time.

His touch softened. He fondled her lower lip, wet and swollen, nose caressing with hers.

"You didn't mean it, did you?" Matt asked in a low voice, almost timid, his breathing still heavy. Vera realized she had thought about telling him how much she hated him when he teased her like that quite often, but the words had probably never left her mouth. Huh.

She opened her eyes, meeting his dazed ones with traces of sadness. Such a puppy look, dammit.

"Like you weren't able to tell," she huffed, running her hand through his sweaty hair. His eyes grew sadder.

"I _couldn't._ Your heartbeat was already too irregular," Matt complained as if it was herfault. Also, _oh_ , she so didn't need to know that.

Vera sighed. "No, I didn't mean it. And if I did, it surely was in the best way possible."

Something twinkled in Matt's eyes and he pecked her lips happily. She rolled her eyes.

"Sometimes I think I already _do_ have a child."

"'In every real man…" he hummed melodically and Vera snorted, smacking his bicep.

"…a child is hidden that wants to play.' Nietzsche. Who would think you can quote someone other than Thurgood Marshall."

"I love you."

"And who said that?" she asked playfully and he laughed silently, slipping out and falling to her side.

"Lots of people, I guess. Lots of people would say it to you too. But no one would mean it as much as I do," he declared, kissing her temple, making her heart flutter. "I love you."

"Careful, Matt. You're gonna spoil me."

"Now, we wouldn't want that, would we?" he asked thoughtfully, wrapping his arms around her waist, placing a kiss to side of her neck, then changing his mind and sucking a bruise there instead. _Damn,_ she would have to wear a turtleneck tomorrow; the possibility of her parents hearing exactly how much she was enjoying her sex-life was enough, she didn't need her friends and family to see it as well. "Who are _you_ gonna quote, you brilliant mind?"

Vera licked her lips, trying to think while he was leaving another mark, this time on her collarbone.

"Dammit, Matt, I'm not a chew toy."

It sounded like she was admonishing him, but… she just loved how he was using his other senses, making up for the one he lost. It meant lots of touching. So much touching. Hands. Mouth. _Everywhere_. And he was possessive as if there was any possibility of her running away to another man. Ha! _Her_ running away from _him_. What a joke.

"Even Brett, _the puppy_ , gets that."

"I'm not _chewing,"_ Matt objected, offended. "And I'm waiting. Come on. I bet you know plenty."

Yeah, for example Nietzsche's'God is dead'. Not a good one. Vera couldn't help smiling when she figured out one which would be rather fitting right now.

"Vítězslav Hálek. Gimme a minute to translate."

"I thought English was like a second nature to you," he teased carefully, moving so he hovered over her, working on her other collarbone. Obviously; he had to make it symmetrical. She grinned mentally.

"Not when I need the melody to remain," she shot back, checking the rhythm of the rhymes. He stopped his work, head rising to her with curious expression. "Alright. 'If everything was true and love only a dream, I would never want to wake up – and forever fall asleep.'"

Huh. It actually didn't sound bad.

He smiled brilliantly. "Truth?"

Vera smiled too. "Truth. Am I dreaming now?"

Matt hummed, returning to his previous actions, and then kissing the slowly forming result gingerly, with something that dangerously resembled satisfaction; _smug_ satisfaction. Such a child.

"Not sure. If you do, we share this dream." He straightened a little so his lips could reach her forehead. "Can you keep a secret?"

Vera wasted extremely annoyed look on him, not bothering with an answer. She thought that would be rather obvious. She considered it a rhetorical question.

"I don't want to wake up either."

Apparently, it wasn't just that he didn't want to 'wake up', but didn't want to fall asleep either. So Vera finished her thought from days ago, sinking to her knees. The frustration which had been building up for the past few days only disappeared when they made love once more.

Vera was tying up a thread around the blossom from her hair, for drying it for a memory, when he rose from his spot on bed he had nestled in after they had showered together, his hands wrapping around her waist and embracing her from behind. It was when she realized all over again that she never ever wanted to let go. He kissed her deeply when she explained her actions and confessed her thoughts. He let her finish her work and then carried her to the bed, lying behind her, snuggling close to her.

Vera was… happy. And if at least part of what she had been imagining would come true, she would be happy in the future too.


	11. 11 In the shadow of a goodbye

**11\. In the shadow of a goodbye**

Vera hadn't set her alarm, so she woke up on her own and without waking up Matt. That was rather rare; when sleeping together, she was usually the one getting up earlier, but always was too loud, disturbing his sleep.

Vera smiled goofily as she watched his peaceful, content expression. Matt usually had circles under his eyes, sometimes even bruises – now there was nothing. She had received a response to her instant message from Danny; he was apparently happy for them and reassured them he was watching over Hell's Kitchen just like Matt wanted. It was a logical explanation of why Matt had been so calm about leaving – he had simply passed the duty to someone else. Vera wasn't angry he had kept it from her, she was just glad it worked out. Because she was on cloud nine now – and Matt seemed content too.

She knew that this… _idyll_ would end the moment they would be back in New York. They would still be happy, but the everyday rush and work and his other _work_ would be consuming their time together. This was sort of a vacation. And Vera was enjoying every freaking moment.

They were supposed to meet with their friends for the cleaning up at noon, which provided everyone enough time to sleep off their hangover. She had wanted to stop by while she was in Czechia, mainly to remember her beloved Grans, but she had not quite figured out when exactly she would do it; this seemed to be a good opportunity. It was only half past nine; maybe she would be back before Matt would wake up.

The moment Vera rose from the bed though, his eyes cracked open. Her heart made a startled jump.

"Are you trying to sneak away, Ms. Machackova?" he asked sleepily, accusation in his voice.

"I am not, Mr. Murdock."

He hummed dubiously, closing his eyes again. Vera smiled, leaning into his space, kissing his temple. He made a noise that sounded more content this time.

"I'll be back soon, Matt. You can sleep," she assured him. Before she could stand up again, his hand caught her wrist.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I just… I wanted to… I'm going to the graveyard." His eyes snapped open, his grip getting tighter before loosening.

"Okay."

Vera realized he was disappointed she was leaving him behind. She sighed, sitting on the bed by his waist, caressing his arm. His expression grew curious.

"I could take you with me, to… introduce you to Grans if you wanted to. It's just… I thought you would rather sleep."

"You thought I wouldn't want to go?" he frowned.

"It's a graveyard, Matt," Vera stated matter-of-factly, shrugging. It was pretty simple.

"Do _you_ want me to go?"

She shrugged again. Did she? Sure, Grans was special to her, but… well, it was a grave. Matt had taken her to his father's grave when she had asked, but that was a little different. Then again…. She sighed.

"If you want to… yeah. But only if you want to."

Matt pushed up to kiss her good morning and it was the only answer she got.

It wasn't a disaster. It wasn't a pleasant experience either. It was a graveyard visit, permitting Matt to learn a little bit about Vera again – this whole trip do Czechia seemed to be about him exploring her personality and what had defined it.

She walked in their backyard first though, picking daisies, knowing Grans had loved them. Matt didn't comment, but Vera saw the smile he had tried to hide. Of course she cried when she was lighting up a candle; his inconspicuous smile turned sad at that.

"She used to live not even a half of a mile away from our house. Me and my brother... we spent a lot of time at her place. Outside too – she had a big garden and an orchard. We often had a sleepover at her place, playing cards, watching cooking shows. We baked a cake for my parent's wedding anniversary, stuff like that. I… I miss her."

Matt hand touched hers lightly as she stood up. She interweaved their fingers, wasting a poor attempt of a smile in his direction.

"How did she die?"

"Cancer. Three years ago. It was… hard. She hated being in the hospital. But she was deteriorating quickly and… well. Mum used to say we were her everything – her grandchildren. I don't think I'll ever stop being sorry for not coming to her as often as I used to when I was a kid. She, uhm- this isn't just her grave. It's grandpa's too… and my aunt's – my mum's sister," Vera added hesitantly, voice too quiet. It was good Matt had super-hearing, because otherwise he would have to ask her to repeat it. Instead, he just ran his thumb over her knuckles.

"I'm sorry."

"Her life wasn't easy. I didn't give it a second thought at the time, I wasn't… mature enough. My grandpa died when I was four years old, my aunt two years later. It took me awhile to realize what my mum and Grans had been through. When I look back at it, I admire them a lot; neither mum or Grands have never looked like someone who has been through that. Guess who reminds that me of. So… yeah. That's… that's it. Now you know about Grans."

"I'm glad. Thank you for taking me here," Matt whispered softly and Vera smiled at him honestly through her tears.

"I'm glad you came with me."

They talked about Matt's own grandma on their way back. Vera grimaced when she heard about the lady believing there was the Devil in Murdock boys again, but there were nice moments to remember too. The conversation slowly turned lighter.

They had quick lunch at home, soon heading to the chateau. Vera wasn't sure she wanted to know how wild the party had turned out. The answer was very wild, because Matt wasn't the only one wearing sunglasses despite the not so sunny weather. It was safer not to talk to certain people. Jiťa and Marky weren't some of them though. Neither was Anna – but she needed an hour to wake up properly. Thinking about it, Vera would prefer if she didn't.

"Do you have any particular reason for wearing a turtleneck today?" Anna wondered and Vera closed her eyes, mentally counting to ten. Yes, there was a reason for that – all of her other tops she had here exposed at least one brilliant mark Matt had given her last night.

"Uhm… no? I mean, it's one of the rare pieces of clothing I have here that looks at least decent…?"

"Hm… so it has nothing to do with the fact that you and your boyfriend looked like you needed to get a room half- no, not half of the time, _all of the time_ yesterday, huh?"

Vera felt her face flushing with embarrassment. Had they gone too PDA the night before? It had been mostly Anna who had caught them showing affection, that was true… but. No. They had been doing just fine. Anna's fantasy was too wild.

"What? No! Šmarja, Ani…"

"Lady protests a little too much. If it's not the case, can I check?" Anna asked, reaching for Vera's neck and Vera instinctively retreated, covering the place with her palm. "Noooo way-"

"Shut up. What are you, twelve?" Vera murmured, stroking the incriminated place subconsciously and her friend giggled.

"Me? What about _him,_ how old is he to leave a hickey? Or is like… possessive? Likes leaving marks?"

"Ani! Ew. I'm- no! I'm not talking about it!"

"He soooo does…"

"Ježišmarja…" Vera hid her face in both palms, making sure her mouth was uncovered though. " _Matt, I'm going to murder you for the bruise on my neck,"_ she hissed under breath, for once hoping he was listening.

"He just… he seems to be really into you, you know. In a good way, but not just into your body or something like that. He handled the flowers situation like a champ, and the blossom in your hair was literally the cutest thing I've seen in like a month," Anna offered in a conciliation manner, smiling and her eyes twinkling.

"I told him I looked like a fairy high on angel dust because of my messy hair and the colour of the dress and he figured out my hairstyle. He said the flower in my hair was needed to make it perfect," Vera admitted, too interested in sweeping the floor all of sudden.

"Aww."

"Yeah, yeah, I know… what do we do next?"

Vera didn't even realize she was humming the song. She was just washing the dishes, handing them to Anna to dry, when she caught herself humming. It wasn't her fault – the piano cover was on and she loved the song for obvious reasons (namely Matt), so it was impossible to resist.

"Is there anything he can't do?" Marky noted as she entered the kitchen, dragging a garbage bag behind her.

Vera glanced at her, puzzled. "Hm? What?"

Marky raised her eyebrow, unimpressed. "Your boyfriend. He can keep up with your dancing when he tries hard enough, he's apparently good with kids and now he's playing the piano, too?"

The plate Vera held in her hand fell back to the sink, splashing water all over the place, bewildered ' _whoa'_ sounding stereo from her friends.

It wasn't a cover playing from the speakers; it was an actual piano. Matt was playing ' _Fix you'_ on the piano.

 _Matt was playing 'Fix you' on the piano._ Vera repeated the sentence in her head several times and she still couldn't believe it or… well, _react_.

"I take it you didn't know that either…" Marky noted brilliantly and Vera finally made herself to at least shake her head. She wiped her hands dry.

"I'll be right back."

Matt was playing _'Fix you'_ on the piano. Vera was not about to get over that fact. _Dammit, Matt, stop making me sappy._

When she walked into the room, he barely moved his head, bending it down just a little. He didn't stop, not even when she slowly approached him, finding her place right behind his shoulder. She didn't touch him. She was fairly sure the illusion she had just created in her head would disappear if she had. He calmly finished the song, resting his fingers on the keyboard.

Vera gulped, trying her best to ignore the lump in her throat. "You're making it very difficult, you know." God, her voice sounded awful.

"What?" he asked softly.

"For them to believe you're not some guy I paid to be my date."

That got him spin on the chair, facing her, frowning. He reached for her hand, which had been limp by her side. "What? And why?"

She licked her lips as he spread his legs to pull her closer. Vera sighed, not really wanting to say it out loud.

"Because I played the piano?" He kissed her palm and grimaced. Dishes. She could only imagine what he could smell and taste.

"Among other things," Vera hummed evasively, regretting not keeping her mouth shut.

Matt must have sensed the character of her emotion somehow (possibly making more sense of the mess than she did), because he frowned harder, crinkle appearing between his eyebrows. She smoothened it with her fingers, lightly running them through his hair. _This man_. How was he with her? How did he want to stay with her and have kids one day?

He relaxed under her touch, small smile on his lips, drawing her down to sit on his thigh. She obeyed.

Vera didn't know how it struck him, but she could tell the moment it did fall into place. He sighed, licking his lips, tucking her hair behind her ear. "You're being silly."

"Not exactly news."

She thought he rolled his eyes behind the glasses, mouth dangerously moving close to hers. "You know it's the other way around, right?"

This time she was the one wearing confused expression, retreating to read in his face. His hand shot up to the back of her neck to prevent further movement.

"I need them to believe I'm worth it," he explained quietly and Vera got even more baffled. "I'm sorry if it made you uncomfor-"

"Matt, you really should be apologizing for being perfect," she chuckled. "Wait, what do you mean you need them-"

She observed his uneasy expression, lips pressed together maybe too tightly. Her eyes went wide when the realization hit her like a truck. Y _ou gotta be shitting me._

"You're joking, right?" He didn't look like he was joking. "Jesus, Matt. You don't need to… convince anyone. _I know_ you're worth much more than just me leaving to New York again – even though it's not like this place will suffer with my absence anyw-"

The rest of her sentence got lost in his mouth when he brought his lips to hers, gingerly taking her upper lip between his, caressing, sucking lightly, just enough to make her want a little bit more but not get indecent. She smiled into the kiss because she freaking loved him and he loved her and they _were idiots_ , but idiots _in love._ His hands moved from her hair to her sides, his knees bumping together and helping her to straddle his legs in bizarre lap dance. The stool Matt was sitting on swayed dangerously with their actions.

"I take it back, I wouldn't be able afford a guy like you anyway," she babbled and he shook inconspicuously with laugh, one of his hands finding way back to her hair.

"My services are very expensive, that's true."

The huff of a laugh at the irony – Matt soft-hearted-pro-bono-worker Murdock being expensive – was silenced by his lips. And he kept telling her _she_ should get a licence for that mouth of hers? The things he could do with his…

"Understandable."

"Also very picky about my clientele," he breathed, words vibrating, his tongue daring to run over her lower lip, drawing her hips just a little closer.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Vera knew they were waiting for her. She was also well aware that they _knew_ what was probably happening here. And she didn't give a shit. Anna already knew about the hickey. It wasn't like the knowledge of Vera and Matt making out would mentally scar them.

"Really?"

He hummed in agreement. And then he tensed, his lips freezing just a little, moving to her ear. "And I'm gonna tell you every single one of the conditions when your friend's not standing at the door with a dilemma of walking in or not."

Vera winced, her heart jumping in fright. Right.

"Probably good thinking." She pecked his cheek. "I really must be doing something wrong when it's the blind guy who notices someone at the door."

"Can't let my guard down... now. Later, love."

He kept addressing her ' _love'_ now. She couldn't say she minded.

"Gotcha." Vera climbed from his lap, realizing they _might_ actually scarred Marky who _was_ peeking from behind the doorframe. Matt's fingers traced her thigh lightly instead on a goodbye and Vera bit her lip, leaning to his ear. "I'll pay for your services, don't worry. Any price, whatever currency you accept. You pick," she whispered, placing a light kiss on his jaw and enjoyed the way his breath hitched.

His hand gripped her forearm before she could retreat and she shot him a surprised look. "You're making it difficult too, you know. The guard thing."

Vera couldn't help grinning with satisfaction. "I'm trying. But that's because I love you."

Matt turned his head just enough to meet her lips for the last time, letting her arm go. "I love you too. Want me to play it again?"

" _Yes, please."_

The whole clean-up lasted shorter than Vera expected – to her disappointment, really. It wasn't that she liked tidying up, god, no, but it meant her time with her friends was ending too. She learned some gossip and some solid info about them, but she knew she would miss their company. When they hugged, she didn't want to let go.

To her surprise, Anna hugged Matt too; Jitka and Marky followed. Vera couldn't help the impression of them doing it with a goal – she would swear they whispered something to his ear, every single one of them. It was unnatural for a hug with a person they barely knew to last that long. Vera hugged them for a good measure once more. She almost couldn't see the road on their way back home through her tears.

"Did they tell you something?" Vera pried, trying to distract herself.

And honestly, she needed to distract Matt too – he had a tortured expression on his face and Vera could only assume why. She was pretty sure it was guilt. He was blaming himself for her tears, because she was leaving her friends for him. She knew it was pointless trying to convince him it wasn't the truth or at least that he was only part of that decision, that unlike the popular believe, her life wasn't revolving only around him. She _would_ have the conversation with him, just not now; there was a whole lot more goodbyes awaiting them and Vera wasn't planning on explaining that to him after each one of those.

They spent the rest of the day playing board games with her mum. Matt even had one game of chess with Vera's dad, impressing him by the ability of imagining the board and losing only by a close shave. Vera's dad actually shook his hand with Matt after, thanking him for a great game and Vera's mum gladly translated. Vera almost burst into tears, because she knew her dad was nice, but he didn't have a habit of letting people in so soon. She wondered if he was trying so hard for her sake; it only brought her closer to the edge of crying.

They went to bed shortly before midnight and Vera knew she wouldn't fall asleep easily despite the fact they were leaving soon the next day and they had to get up early. She snuggled to Matt's chest as close as she could, breathing in, feeling his heart hammering, while he held her tightly, understanding her need.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to her hair, voice raspy. "I really-"

"Matt, this isn't your fault—I mean, yeah, sure, you play an important role, but I would be sad like this if I was leaving New York for a year too. If I was leaving you, Terri and everyone else. This has no solution. Don't worry about me crying. You know I'm a sap," she tried to lightened up the mood, failing utterly.

He pressed a lingering kiss to her hair. "I'm still sorry."

"I know. Me too. But I chose to come back to New York."

"I can't tell how grateful I am for that." ' _No matter how selfish that makes me,'_ he probably wanted to add, but possibly realized it wasn't what Vera wanted to hear. She kissed the side of his neck.

"But you _could_ tell me about the piano. When did you learn?"

"When I was a kid," he replied shortly, pulling her closer, which had seemed impossible until he did it. Vera could feel the vibration of his voice in his chest. "I sometimes played… in the church."

"Oh. Huh. Okay… wait, I don't want to imply something, but I doubt you learned to play 'Fix you' at the time."

"Imply?" he asked, retreating only to let her see his confusion. Vera bit her cheek. This was going to sound terrible. However, she had a point.

"It probably didn't exist at the time," she explained slowly and Matt gasped exasperatedly.

"How dare you!"

"Matt, come on. Where and when did you learn the song?"

He licked his lips absently. "I didn't."

Vera raised her eyebrow. "It sounded pretty good."

"You really didn't hear me play until Marky told you, did you? It took me couple of times."

Vera frowned. What did that mean? If he hadn't learned he would have to… what? Play it from memory by listening to it? That was crazy, right?

"Are you telling me you- what?"

"I know the song pretty well. Foggy downloaded it for me and save it to my phone. A piano version too. I… listen to it, sometimes," he admitted sheepishly. Vera's jaw fell slightly open and her eyes scanned his face. He was serious.

"Wow. Okay. _Wow."_ She wasn't sure what was more incredible – the part in which he could play a song just because he heard it often enough or the fact alone that he had been listening to it in the first place. But yes, she wanted to kiss him senseless for both. "That's incredible, Matt."

He shrugged, smiling inconspicuously. "I just want to make you happy, Vera. Possibly without losing you."

She was _not_ about to cry again, just _no_.

"That sounds like a lot of work, you know. Making me happy. I cry too easily."

"I know."

"I want you to be happy too, you know that, right? And you _do_ make me very happy," Vera pronounced, deadly serious. She kissed his forehead before meeting his lips. He answered her kiss slowly, fingers sliding to her hair.

"I know you do. And you make me feel alive in a way I didn't know was possible. I love you."

"And I love you."


	12. 12 By any other name

**12\. By any other name**

Vera's mum didn't want to let go, that much was obvious. She had hugged Matt too – asking him if he still hadn't minded hugs first – and the embrace had been warmer and lasted longer than their first one. Vera would swear her mum had also told him something, too quietly for Vera's ears though.

And then she hugged Vera, who was _not_ crying of course.

"Promise you'll take care of yourself," her mum whispered to her hair for the millionth time and Vera obediently nodded for the millionth time too.

"Promise me the same."

Her mum squeezed her so tight Vera wondered if some of her bones broke with the force.

"Please. We have Brett now, he'll look out for us."

"He's a terrible watchdog, mum. He didn't even get up when we came home from the wedding," Vera deadpanned, not realizing her mum only teased her.

"I know he's terrible. I really like him."

Vera laughed, more tears escaping her eyes. She leaned to her mums embrace once more, before freeing herself. "I love you, mum."

"I love you too. He might have you for himself in New York, but you're my babygirl. Always."

Vera smiled at her mum, kissing her cheek and patted Brett on his head – he responded with an enthusiastic bark. Yeah, her parents were going to be alright. She was worried about them, leaving them alone again, but they would be fine. They had Brett now, Petr would be still visiting often enough and Vera would be calling regularly. She sighed and got in the car, her dad behind the wheel.

"Ready?" he asked and Vera sighed again, wiping her cheeks dry. Matt took her free hand.

"Yeah."

Vera's dad was a little more reserved when it came to emotions, but when Vera and Matt got out of the car two towns over – because the connection was terrible, the only bus from Trutnov to Prague leaving at four a.m., which no, thank you very much – , he did as well and hugged Vera shortly, with surprising force. He didn't hug Matt, but he shook his hand, covering the back of Matt's hand with his other palm when doing it.

"You're a good guy, Matt. Keep going like this. It was nice to meet you."

Vera, who finally stopped crying and managed not to start again when hugging her father, became a mess once again, translating with her voice shaking.

"Thank you, sir."

"Daniel."

Vera went to a cardiac arrest, simultaneously ready to cry herself to death. _Goddammit, dad._ She was very impressed.

"Thank you, Daniel."

The journey to Prague was relatively short, no stops, and for Vera, it was a literal blur, because she was mostly crying – every time she managed to get a hold of her emotions, calming down, she lasted like ten minutes and lost it again. Matt was patiently offering his shoulder, comforting words with a edge of guilt in his voice.

They were just about to get off the bus when she finally convinced herself that what was enough was enough and focused on the day that was ahead of them. They were meeting up with Petr and were about to show Matt a little bit of the capital of Czechia. Some of the remarkable places were kinda wasted on him, it wasn't like he would enjoy the view from Hradčany, the whole city, 'hundreds of towers' on his palm, but there was no reason for not taking him to saint Vít's cathedral for example.

They dropped their suitcase in one of the lockers at the railway station of Masaryk so they didn't have to drag it around. Petr waited for them at the metro station right in the centre of Prague at Wenceslas Square.

"Who's Wenceslas?" Matt hummed curiously when they reached the statue of the cavalryman in the upper part of the square.

"Saint Wenceslas is a patron saint of Czechia. He was a king, kind and diplomatic, so naturally, his brother, greedy for power and warring, murdered him. Anyway, the legend says that when the darkest time for our nation comes, Wenceslas and his army will come to save us – for now, they are sleeping in the core of the mountain Blaník. Honestly, I think he's full of shit. I mean, if he hadn't come during the WW II. _or_ after the last presidential election, when will he…" Vera questioned, wry in the end. She might sounded like she was joking, but she was deadly serious.

"She's not wrong," Petr noted, his voice bitter as well.

"That's a nice legend," Matt just commented, smiling.

"Yeah. But it's totally fake. Ready to move on?"

"Whenever yo—is there a tram standing in the middle of the square on no rail?" he asked incredulously, tilting his head, frowning. Vera burst out laughing at his confused expression.

"Yep. The trams used to go up and down the square instead of going… well, horizontally, I guess. It's a café now, but I've never been there. I just know it's expensive as hell. Want something?"

"No, thanks. But there is something smelling ridiculously good and even though I can tell it's too sweet, I would like to give it a try. And it's coming from…"

"There," Vera finished, knowing what he was talking about right away. She hadn't eaten 'trdelník' in years. As far as Vera knew, 'trdelník' was dough rolled into thin strips around a spindle, glazed with sugar and grilled until the sugar caramelized; after, it should be rolled in a mix of sugar, cinnamon and chopped nuts.

When they walked to the stall where the vendor was offering it, she only managed to stare – apparently, someone had thought the pastry hadn't been sweet enough and had decided to upgrade it with filling the pastry with ice-cream, whipped cream and chocolate topping. Since the upgrade was optional, they decided to go with traditional version. They probably still overdosed with sugar; it was wonderful.

Their time in Prague was limited. Vera decided to introduce Matt to one more part of Czech history – the Prague Castle. Of course, the courtyard was nice enough, but be sure Matt Murdock would like something else – the cathedral of saint Vít. If Vera was being honest, she actually counted on Matt liking it, hoping perhaps. They took their time with the tour, stopping by the altars and if anything, Vera could admire the game of lights as the slowly fading sunlight glowed through the windows.

It was a good day.

And every good day had to end; they needed to head to the airport.

"So… taking off, huh?" Petr hummed, handing Vera her suitcase he had just freed from the old locker at the railway station.

Vera hesitantly took it, glancing up at his face. "Looks like it. Are you gonna stop me?"

"Depends. Are you gonna pull out some ninja shit if I am?" he joked, but the grimace he made afterwards was somewhat... weird. Vera couldn't quite decode the emotion behind it. "Just try to stay out of trouble, would you?"

Vera smiled at him, feeling new tears gathering in her eyes. "Yeah, I can _try."_

Petr hugged her with a sigh. Then he shook hands with Matt, surprisingly switching to African handshake. It was a nice gesture; Vera wasn't quite sure what it meant, but she always thought it was a sign of camaraderie, so she highly appreciated Petr doing it. Matt smiled at him, apparently feeling the same.

Petr walked them to the nearest tram station, raising his hand in a wave. Vera reciprocated the gesture, noticing Matt tilting his head; she realized Petr's mouth was moving, too quietly for her ears. Matt jumped when the warning signal for closing the tram door cut the air. She didn't ask about it immediately, watching her brother's huge figure disappear.

"Petr was telling you something, wasn't he?" she suspected. The corners of Matt's lips rose inconspicuously, but he didn't answer her. "And you're not gonna tell me, are you?"

Matt shook his head, his smile growing wider. Vera sighed, but let it slide. Maybe she didn't even want to know. She changed topics.

"How annoying the noise is? The city noise? It sounds different from New York, doesn't it?"

Matt huffed. "That's one way to put it…"

Vera managed not to cry until the plane took off. There was an unpleasant knot in her stomach and she was feeling homesick already; spending months in New York, she had became somewhat immune to homesickness, she had been busy after all and later, as her homecoming was coming gradually, the feeling had been coming back slowly. Now, leaving her country again, knowing her family and friends were going to be thousands kilometres away, it hit her with a full force. Vera really wanted to blame the nausea on the plane, but she would be lying through her teeth.

Matt's hand found hers, his fingers running over her knuckles and that was the moment she broke, because she realized the problem indeed had no solution – just like she had said Matt the night before. She loved both, her Czech family and her American friends and _Matt_ , and there was simply no way of having it all at the same time, not perfectly in reach, not as close as she would wish.

Vera didn't realize when it happened, but suddenly there were Matt's lips on her temple, his arm mostly around her. She snuggled to him, burying her face to his shirt, feeling his shaky exhale.

"I'm sorry," he murmured and she just shook her head, not feeling like explaining it to him again. She noticed the plane was still climbing up.

"You should be; your seatbelt should be still fastened."

Matt snorted. "Please. I have more important things to take care of. Plus, you know me. I'm kind of a daredevil."

Vera choked out a laugh that sounded more like a sob, allowing herself to breathe in properly. She was really glad there was no third person in their half row and they had at least a little privacy.

"You know I love you, right? Because you're a total dork?" she asked rhetorically, not expecting an answer.

"Really? Dorkiness? _That's_ it for you? And here I thought…" he hummed, not finishing his thought, kissing her hair. The smile crept on her lips without even trying.

"Yeah, I guess there is more than that."

The flight felt longer than the first one. Vera had troubles falling asleep; Matt looked like he could use some sleep, but stayed awake for her. She was resting her head against his shoulder as they were talking quietly, not wanting to disturb the people whose sleeping patterns were normal.

"Was it hard?" Vera asked hesitantly, feeling his muscles go rigid for a short moment before relaxing again.

"What was?"

Vera sighed, withdrawing slightly so she could look at his face. "All of it. Coming to Czechia. Meeting my family, especially. My friends… thinking about it, I'm surprised you survived all that."

"You have a wonderful family, Vera," he noted softly, his lips curling in a small smile. "They love you very much. You have the kind of a family that everyone wishes for."

She was quiet for a moment, before she decided to show her true colours. "I know. That's why I'm asking."

"Oh." Matt blinked, surprised. "It's… it's been a long time ago since I lost mine and found another, found other people who took a place in my heart. My father will always be the one, but… Vera, you don't have to feel bad for having a steady family background. I'm not… bitter about it. I'm happy for you."

Vera pressed her lips together, watching his sincere expression. "I love you. I know I keep saying that and it's probably losing its meaning, but—"

Matt shaking his head stopped whatever she was about to say. "Never. I love you too. Come here."

Vera smiled brightly, returning to their previous position.

"What about Anna and company? Too much?" This time his chest shook with hushed laughter. "Oh god, they were, weren't they? Did they threaten you or something?— Oh god, they did, didn't they, I'm so sorry."

"You don't have to be. They are great, Vera. It was… nice to see that side of you. You were laughing a lot with them. I can imagine you were quite a team on elementary school. Hard for teachers to handle, probably laughing at something all the time."

Vera whined, her cheeks turning red, which made Matt laugh even harder.

"You have no idea. All the time, Matt. All the freaking time," she murmured, face hidden in the crook of his neck. He pecked the top of her head.

"I would love to see that."

"No, you really wouldn't."

They were in a comfortable silence, somewhere between dozing off and mumbling unimportant things when Vera's sleepy brain came to a realization. She was wondering about their time in Czechia – obviously – and one important fact popped up in her mind.

Of course, she couldn't make herself to actually ask about it. So she swallowed her question, nuzzling her nose closer to his neck.

"A question or a statement?" his sleepy voice sounded in her ears, its vibration tickling her cheek. She felt her heart jump.

"What?"

"You want to say something and you're afraid to do so. A question or a statement?"

Vera didn't even need to open her eyes and look up to know there was a ghost of a smile on his lips.

"Uhm. A question," she admitted, but didn't elaborate.

"Okay. And are you gonna ask it?" he encouraged her gently, making her sigh.

"It's dumb. Kinda."

Matt huffed a short laugh.

"Vera, I'm pretty sure we're at the point in a relationship at which you can safely ask me anything. Even if it seems dumb. The worst thing that might happen is that the question will make it the top three."

That caused her eyes to actually snap open and examine his expression. What the hell did that mean? She frowned.

"Top three of what? … Dumbest questions? You have a list of top three dumbest questions I've ever asked you? Are you kidding me?"

Matt opened his mouth, no sound coming out. He looked sheepish. "They are more like… ridiculous, not _dumb_. It's not as bad as it sounds."

"Isn't it? What three questions are on it now?"

"It's actually only two. And it's a tie, I guess." Vera raised her eyebrow, which was naturally a totally wasted gesture on him.

"Okay. Spill it."

To her surprise, he did – quite voluntarily. "Sure. _'Do you ever want to sleep with me?'"_

"Of course…" she mumbled, rolling her eyes, ignoring the rush of heat in her cheeks at the memory. "And?"

"' _Do you want me to stay?'"_ he said softly and her heart definitely missed a beat at that one. He considered the question about her staying in New York _ridiculous_. Because apparently, it had been painfully obvious that he had wanted her to stay. Which…

"…Oh."

"So? What was it you wanted to ask me?"

She licked her lips. "Do you— do you mind me calling you 'Matt'?"

His expression turn brilliantly baffled. "That's promising so far. Explain. Why would I mind you calling me 'Matt'?"

"I'm— everyone calls you 'Matt'."

"…yes? That's because it's my name, _Vera_ , _"_ he pointed out, still not following. Vera rolled her eyes.

"Ugh… I always call you 'Matt'. Well, sometimes 'Matthew' when you're being annoying, but… yeah, 'Matt' in general."

"Yes?"

"You don't always call me 'Vera'."

His expression cleared, the furrow between his eyebrows disappearing. "Oh."

"Yeah. Uhm… I just wondered, you know. You— you call me 'sweetheart' sometimes and- you called me… 'love'-" she breathed, worried he might stop doing it after she mentioned it. Which was something she didn't want, like at all.

"Does it bother you? When I call you-"

"No! No, Matt, it really doesn't bother me when you call me 'love'. Or 'sweetheart'. Or 'Vera', I like all of it. But… I was thinking. If you don't feel… neglected or something. Like if I didn't love you that much or… dunno. 'Honey' or something like that… it doesn't quite fit, I can't help it, but at the same time—" She had no idea how to explain it. "I told you it's dumb."

"It's not dumb, Vera. It's… it's kinda sweet, actually. But I don't mind that you don't use any… _pet name._ I like it when you call me 'Matt'."

"Yeah?" she asked for confirmation and Matt nodded in earnest.

"Yeah…. I don't know if it's the hearing or combination of senses or… you. But I like it. You say it differently in different situations. In public, it's a little guarded as if you were afraid of embarrassing yourself or me, but still fond." His lips twitched inconspicuously. "It's different when you're angry, even if you're not calling me 'Matthew'. I… I really like when you just say my name when we're alone. When you're patching me up and you're a little worried, a bit angry, but sounding genuinely caring. When you're just wishing me a good night, morning, to have a nice day. Then... then of course there's…"

His lips brushed her ear lightly, whispering a secret, "…when you just breathe it, cry it out… whimper, wanting, needy." Her face immediately burned. He kissed the blush with no doubt smug grin on his lips. "It sounds different when you add it to 'I love you', no matter the circumstances. But whenever you say it... it's like it means something. So no, I don't mind that you don't call me anything else. You can if you want to, but I'm perfectly content with 'Matt'."

"I'm quite happy with Matt too."

He chuckled silently, noting both meanings. "Okay. Glad to hear that… _honeybee."_

"Do _not_ call me 'honeybee'."

"Sorry, _kitten,"_ he teased and Vera whimpered, mentally kicking herself for not keeping her mouth shut.

"Careful, _lover boy_. Kitten has claws. And can change into a tigress."

"Oh, I know. I like when she does, _tigress."_

God, he was insufferable. Why was she putting up with him again?

"If you're not gonna stop mocking me, I swear I'm calling you— 'muffin' for a week. Or 'Matty-bear'. Or! I'm going to see you at the courthouse, publicly calling you 'hot stuff'."

"Oh my god, please, don't call me 'hot stuff'," he pleaded.

"Uh-huh. The other ones would be alright then?"

"Calling me 'Matt' is perfect, love," he offered, shamelessly aiming for her soft spot. Once he learned she didn't mind him addressing her 'love', he understood very quickly she actually liked it. A lot.

"…okay. Which brings me to: what the hell does Danny keep calling me? _Tashi?"_

" _Tiānsh_ _ǐ_ _._ It's Chinese."

"Do you have any idea what that means?" Matt beaming was the best answer she could get. "Of course you do. Tell me."

"No, it's sweet, that's all you need to know," Matt shook his head, smiling mysteriously.

"Oh, is that right? _Zlatinko?"_

His smile fell. "…did you just call me something?"

"I did. It doesn't matter. _It's sweet."_

"Vera," he growled and she grinned in response. "Okay, point taken. He… he's calling you an angel."

Vera blinked in surprise. That- she didn't see that coming. "Oh. That's… nice."

"He calls me the Devil sometimes. _Mógu_ _ǐ_ _._ He thinks it's hilarious. Will you tell me…?"

"I called you something like… well, technically it's a variation of 'gold', but it means… ' _precious'._ When I addressed you 'zlatinko', I called you precious _,_ " Vera admitted, tentative.

The smile Matt gave her illuminated the whole plane, and she had to smile too. Precious indeed.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Huh. Done. I'm kinda ashamed of how long this fic is. Partly because I think it scared off my beta.

Anyway, in case you'd be interested in more 'Verdevil' (it feels like these two deserve a ship name at this point :-D ), I'll be posting a fic named 'And the World Was Gone', which s something 'a bit' different again :)

Kudos for reading,  
AA


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